Traditionally Jewellery is bound by restrictions of size, function, material and precise skills. These parameters form a type of social contract an agreement under which works are valued and permitted to dwell under the title ‘Jewellery’.
Yet historically the jeweller was part alchemist, one who brought material and meaning together through objects. In a quest to harness light, early jewellers explored materials for their ability to capture and refract its magical properties. Metals and minerals were shaped and polished to ape its behaviours with silver having the highest light-refractive properties, gold a representation of the sun and bringer of life. Through millennia, real and man-made have co-existed as Jewels.
Just as making evolves so too does language. Through the etymology of both jewel (from French; jouel- delight, toy, plaything) and alchemist a deep and rich palate of meaning begins to emerge. Reflected in their surface and space these jouel carry the DNA of their history. Hand and technology coexist in a dynamic conversation on matter, form and material, their value re-appraised.
- when working with amber, I noticed it had a 'charge' - unsurprisingly it's name is 'elektron' in Greek