Diaphanous: a Master's Degree Project by Nicolas Estrada

Article / Research

Published: 27.08.2014

Diaphanous: a Master's Degree Project by Nicolas Estrada.

Author:: Nicolas Estrada

Edited by:: Nicolas Estrada

Edited at:: Germany

Nicolas Estrada
Brooch: Blast, 2014
Gold, silver, quartz, amethyst, agate
5.2 x 4.3 x 2 cm
Photo by: Manuel Ocaña
Delicacy Series
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.

Nicolas Estrada presents his Master Project, with a body of work divided in three series: Fragility, Delicacy and Light. The pieces were inspired in the past experiences of the artist and its strong influence in his personal way of see the world.

Hochschule Trier, Campus Idar-Oberstein, Germany
Teachers: Theo Smeets and Ute Eitzenhöfer.
July 1st, 2014

My master project consists of eleven pieces inspired in their entirety by my own past experiences, personal stories that have haunted me for a long time: discussions, youth problems, a very conflictive native city, divorce, and so on. Two years in quiet Idar-Oberstein allowed me to study myself, my annoyances and my reactions towards them; it is time to pass the page of a troubled past, and focus on the future. Forgive past personal conflicts that corrode my mind, and instead, pay a tribute to all the people, and all those winks, that have allowed me to reach the place I now find myself.
This new work is divided into three different families: Fragility, Delicacy and Light.

Fragility
A family of three quartz necklaces, translucent pieces with a very delicate texture and an unsubstantial form made from a big hollow carved space crossed by holes, with a little aquamarine secret on the inside, all framed with silver wire. These pieces summarize the violence that still shakes my country every day, the fragility of my people and the hope in their soul. Reality is so fragile and can break so easily.

Delicacy
This family consists of four very delicate brooches and a pair of small earrings. Quartz is again the leading stone, one brooch has a ghost grenade, and the earrings have a small tourmaline detail. All pieces are framed by silver and gold. Delicacy is again characterized by its lightness and hollowness. These pieces are also translucent and with a very vague and insubstantial form. Some resemble inner body parts, cavities and organs that contain life; one is engraved with the curse of suffering.

Light
The last family: three brooches with physical light that turns on when the wearer closes the needle. Physical light is the main character in these three brooches, a light that is contained into three translucent recipients and framed in wood. Three brooches that tell new and more recent stories: my discovery of the Baltic Sea, my life in a very organized and well-structured country, a country where everything resembles perfection, and my impressions of strong, tall, white people who appear cold on the outside but, are really warm on the inside.

Nicolas Estrada
Brooch: Guts 2, 2014
Gold, silver, quartz
5 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm
Photo by: Manuel Ocaña
Delicacy Series
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.

Nicolas Estrada
Brooch: Dornbusch, 2014
Silver, quartz, wood, electric components
5.5 x 5 x 5 cm
Photo by: Manuel Ocaña
Light Series
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.