Alice Bo-Wen Chang

Previously trained as an architect, I have always envisioned buildings as machines. Architec­tural elements are designed to form spaces that manipulate activities and movement. While jewellery cannot divorce itself from the human body, the most intimate space lies in between the body and the object(s). I approach jewellery design as constructing spaces on the topographic contours.

Experimenting with different metals, plastics, enamel, and combining innovative technology with traditional hand craft skills, I am always in search of new materials and new ways of working. My exploration entitled ‘Bodyspace/bodyscape’ starts from a flat surface as it does not possess a spatial relationship, lines can be cut and pulled apart to create an animated form that express the expanded space.

The uncompromising lines and squares in Bodyspace/bodyscape, repeat in a predictable manner and are folded into endless possibilities of forms and shapes. The rigorous and logical orders result in an unpredictable, even organic growth of variations that contrast and interact with the curvature of the body. The objects perform the transformation that is frozen in time. The manipulation of lines disintegrates the rigor of squares and straight angles, the structure folds, collapses, reconstructs and extends its motion into space. When the action comes to a halt, the movement continues visually.

The study results in a series of undulating solid squares resembling the body landscape. Each of them is a fragment of the body mosaic, and the wiry structure is situated on the tilted fields, grows out of the folded planes, or sometimes converses and dialogues with the unaligned surfaces. The objects can be made small, or large, depending on the number of units; the modular nature of the patterned units allow pieces to oscillate in scale effortlessly. The action in which the movement occurs is presumptuous and temporal, but the effect is long lasting. The colors and textures not only provided a different ambiance, they show the versatility and adaptability. In one of the earrings, the oxidized silver provides a darker background to support and contrast the white structure, of which some of the lines and corners are highlighted with fluorescent pink color. The piece instantly possesses an animated quality, and a very dynamic and hierarchical transition from the body surface to the tip of the angle reaching out to infinity.

Laura McGrath

The objects and jewellery that I make are abstracts of the things I think about and research within my practice.  They are the staring points for broader exploration and are usually the precursor to other activities such as reading and writing.  The themes and ideas brought up by this research then feed back into the physical act of making and are a way of continuing my practice as an artist. 

I am principally interested in the object’s ability to act as a carrier for personal or social meaning.  Part of my exploration of this is to present and comment on their counter ability to be viewed as empty, meaningless and alienating.  For me, the designed object is a representation of human will over nature and man’s need for the meaningful to be made tangible. 

I graduated in 2011 with an MA in Goldsmtihing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery from the Royal College of Art in London.  In 2010 I was fortunate enough to win The South Square Trust Scholarship and I have exhibited internationally, most notably as part of a group show Silver Where? at Gallery SO, Brick Lane, London and Let’s Have a Look at Gallery Marzee, Nijmegen, Holland.