Adelina Petcan: Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design. Selected Graduate 2019

Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, Sweden.


In Search of Privacy

The master thesis presents an investigation on the relation that comes between jewellery, wearer and viewer with the intent of disrupting this ongoing dialogue through a material exploration of the public and private space.

Taking today’s society as the starting point of this investigation concepts such as Self-branding are discussed as part of modernity, as a process in which the individual creates a certain image through the association with products that would communicate the desired dialogue, influencing the authenticity in self-representation and more of creating an ideal self. This has also lead to an increased need and practice of sharing the private. In the student’s practice jewellery is used as a method of creating a more private connection between the wearer and the piece in an investigation of intimacy on an abstract level and by reversing a function of jewellery—the creation of identity for the wearer or setting a position in society.
Using examples from the past or traditions of jewellery, where the relation between wearer and piece became private, jewellery is presented from a private perspective, for example the context of iron jewellery from the First World War and the story of people who used to coat their gold wedding rings with iron so that they could keep them safe. In this example, jewellery became very secretive and the dialogue between visual communication and wearer-jewellery-viewer relationships gets two different meanings.

Materializing the concept of privacy in jewellery is approached in deconstructing the idea of a brooch by using several methods such as overlapping, hiding or layering.

A system of attachment is explored by splitting the brooch into two different parts. With the help of the wearer's fabric, they are made to perfectly merge together, playing with already existing layers. The inside part of it pushes through the fabric and can be read in a subtle way by others but not enough to be completely understood, but mostly guessed. It is symbolically the representation of the private and of the traditional value within the realm of jewellery. The outside part is the public one. It is meant to be seen, to adorn the body but in the way that it is constructed to function only by hiding the other one, the inside. It also brings up the possibilities to discuss another aspect which is the one of material hierarchies in jewellery. Another aspect coming from this deconstruction is having two separate parts that seen separately (while not worn) would not necessarily lead to an understanding of the piece. The jewellery is completed only when the wearer and the clothing are included, merging all three of them together, thus creating it, also seen as a complete experience.

Jewellery is approached from a social behavior perspective with a focus on the relation between the wearer and the piece. In this project private and public space is discussed from a jewellery perspective as well as modesty and intimacy. The jewellery made refers to the individual, the wearer, and the importance of being worn.


Name of graduation student: Adelina Petcan.
Name of the guiding teacher: Anders Ljungberg.


More work and contacts:
Email: adelinapetcan@yahoo.com
Website: https://www.adelinapetcan.com/
Instagram: adelinapetcan


Find out more about the courses at the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design.