Salt Project

Artist list

Sandra Yelo, Maria Josep Forcadell, Xavier Aguado, Sònia Serrano, Júlia Castro, Meritxell Cuevas, Isabel Alejo, Bárbara Rodríguez, Laura Martín, Isabel Suárez, Nora Castaño, Clara Devesa, Patricia Portocarrero, Aina Gómez, Ariadna Valls, Ariana Gaitan, Adriana Díaz, Juliana Mónaco, Nerea Pitarque, Marisa Tomás, Pilar Ramón, Laura Paglieri, Gloria Gómez, Gina Contel, Jennifer Lozano, Lourdes Freixa, Elisabet Moreno, Maria Ninot, Liliana Ruíz, Edwin Páez, Carmen Esteba, Patrick Alvarez, Violant Cebria, Alaitz Martínez-Marañón, Jordi Aparicio, Marta Miguel, Dani Fàbregues, Anna Vila, Ana Parra, Laura Sabatés, Ortrum Meinhard, Anna González, Ana García, Josep Raventós, Selma Leal, Alexandra Steinforth, Montserrat Saperas, Margarita Alonso.

What is the SALT Project? 

The SALT Project was born out of two schools’ desire to reach beyond their borders, to see and understand how other people work whilst applying different ways of working, whilst valuing the whole experience as a learning process and cultural and artistic exchange.
The starting point was in February of 2010 when Aiyu Zhu, a student at the China Academy of Art – the CAA – in Hangzhou, visited the Escola d’Art del Treball in Barcelona, taking advantage of her trip to Europe. From that moment, the EAT and the CAA formed a link with the objective of finding out how jewellers work in a different part of the world, to assess new methods and processes. This experience helps to better spread what is done in the classroom as well as enabling students to gain first-hand experience of a more open vision of what is happening in the jewellery trade in different areas of the planet.

How well has the SALT Project worked at the EAT? 

At the EAT we see the SALT Project as a whole school project, which is why we are trying to involve as many members of our institution as possible. Because of this, all students and ex-students of jewellery-making were invited to participate, as well as all of the teachers at the school, regardless of what department they belong to - be it ceramics, illustration, sculpture and so on. We believe that inviting people from different departments enriches the project because we can see small-sized pieces that have characteristics that are far removed from the way things are done in the jewellery trade.
In the case of ex-students and teachers, the subject matter, technique and materials has been open to all. The requirement was that it had to be a small piece of jewellery or small object and that SAL was the focus, either physically or conceptually.
In the case of seasonal students, we introduced the project into the yearly schedule of various modules. Furthermore, in the subject of gemmology they have studied the characteristics and properties of the salt gem and the jewels were fashioned in the jewellery workshop.
The first-year students have worked on the SALT Project in their Modelling module (a subject where the technical and procedural processes of different waxes for microfusion are taught). In these classes they were asked to produce a sculptural ring by manipulating modelling wax (a soft wax used mainly by sculptors), in which they would incorporate the salt as an important part of the jewel. This ring would be finished in metal, after the process of melting the wax.
Some of these pieces have references to Chinese culture: dragons, water lilies, bonsais, and there are also references to nature and the sea.
Despite the fact that the conceptual aspects were not in the initial briefing, many students incorporated symbolic connotations in their pieces, such as alluding to the salt as a currency or seeing the salt as an ephemeral part of the piece.
As part of their Jewellery projects module, the second-year students were given the task of working with the idea of friendship rings, under the heading of “salt friendship rings”. The most traditional or popular type of friendship ring is the wedding ring, but we wanted the largest scope possible. Therefore, the first thing that the students had to define was who the two people that they were going to design the ring for were, what it was that united them and how the salt symbolised that union.
There are projects where the people chosen are members of a family, or in other projects they are fictional characters. The link between them is indicated by a single connection. The salt theme has been worked as a key part of the design, paying attention to its physical properties. The fact that the salt is ephemeral was taken into account when it came to work the material. In some cases this property was emphasized; in others measures were taken to protect it from erosion and wear.