Metrosideros Robusta

Metrosideros robusta is the Latin name for the Northern rata.
I see parallels in my approach to jewellery and the growth of the rata tree. These trees start life as an epiphyte in the branches of another tree. As it grows the epiphyte rata sends roots down to the ground. It eventually replaces the host tree when it dies.
More than ten years ago I began using conventional jewellery pieces as a grounding material in my work. Like the epiphyte rata I added my attachment in gold or silver, nestling in or on a ring and also growing over entire pieces of jewellery.
Most of my recent rings do not include any ready-made pieces, they are entirely replaced by my own creations. 

In 1993 I started to use conventional jewellery as the basic material in my work. Some of these existing jewellery pieces had already been worn, some were brand new, some were bought or found and others were made. With these jewellery pieces I added more gold or silver. The gold was used as if it took an active part, nestling in or on a ring. Crudely hammered onto things, it coated and grew over entire pieces of jewellery, pushing its way through settings. This created a new kind of mixture from the obvious and the foreign. As gold belongs to jewellery like salt in soup, here the precious metal acted in an unpretentious way, it appeared living and cheeky.

The latest works go one step further. The pieces are initially formed from wax. The organic malleability and plasticity of the material gradually seduced me into working in a more spontaneous manner. The shapes have become larger and less inhibited. Here, the only reminders of conventional jewellery are the settings, links or fittings. Initially, the pieces have a “not“ designed quality, clumsy, sluggish and thick. But the metal appears mystical, as if the nature of the material has created this indefinite shape itself.

Karl Fritsch