Vertical Jewellery Garden by Liana Pattihis and Sofia Björkman at Collect Open 2020

Artist list

Sofia Björkman, Liana Pattihis

Gardening itself also carries symbolic meaning, as being one with nature, not only nourishes the soul but also nourishes the earth. This promotes a sense of cooperation and even co-dependence. As Voltaire famously wrote, We must cultivate our garden, a symbolic parallel for one’s personal growth.

Liana Pattihis previously worked on a project inspired by images of flora and fauna, choosing images for their visual composition or aesthetic elements. Through the creative process, Pattihis gave these images a three-dimensional chained interpretation, thus converting them into wearable pieces of jewellery. Fellow Jewellery Artist Sofia Björkman, who also draws inspiration from the wilderness and cultivated landscapes, agrees that the poetic, as well as the symbolic meanings of gardens and gardening, can also be referenced in the jewellery field as a whole, where cooperation, inclusion, diversity and community are very important in promoting creativity and personal growth. Using the garden as their inspiration for a collaborative project, therefore, was a perfect choice.

Pattihis and Björkman’s collaboration, which is an installation inspired by images of vertical wall gardens, aims to create a vertical jewellery garden with a collection of 3D drawings and enamelled chain jewellery. Both their techniques are pushing boundaries and are far from traditional. Bjorkman has embraced the technology of 3D hand drawings, creating pieces which are instantly recognizable and unique to her. Enamelling on a movable base like the chain has been Pattihis’ trademark method of working with enamels for the past 12 years, a unique method in creating one-off organic wearable pieces.

As the garden is their source of inspiration, Pattihis has taken it a step further by exploring the very English tradition of afternoon tea and drinks in the garden and incorporated broken pieces of old English porcelain cups and saucers, dessert spoons and fragments of wine glasses into her work.

Björkman, on the other hand, has taken this opportunity to expand the palette in her work by incorporating more colour. Contrasting itself to the beauty and traditions of the garden, Björkman, through her chosen material, questions our effect on the course of nature, biodiversity and how we as humans deal with climate and ecosystem changes, which she considers one of the greatest challenges of our time. The new technology and materials Björkman use, in combination with and in juxtaposition to Pattihis’ technique of reusing broken porcelain cups, reinventing them, giving them a new identity and function, add a new dimension to their concept. Their jewellery wall garden, comprising large installation pieces as well as portable, wearable jewellery, is their own micro/macro jewellery cosmos, which they hope will captivate the audience and like a garden offer a visual explosion of colours and textures.


Meet Liana and Sofia and their work at Stand E3a, East Wing.