Material girls

We do not really agree that diamonds are a girl’s best friends. Some of us are happy with – or maybe even obsessed by – plastics, textile, glue, paint or rubber.

To us it is a lot like a love affair. A new relationship takes form when exploring the different characters of a new material. Karin, for example, is in love with Corian.

Our relation did not start off with an instant crush. Corian was hard and sticky. I had to be careful not to break my sawing blades and drills. After a while I discovered the other sides of Corian’s personality – the lightness, the strength and the amazing surface that can be polished until I becomes all shiny or leave matt as it is after sawing.

  Karin Roy Michelle Andersson
Bracelet: Kotor 2008. Corian, pearlsilk, silver.


Sanna has had a fling with reindeer skin for a while now;
I love this natural material. Treated in the right manner, it can be very flexible and soft, but it is also so strong. I really like the connotations to my history and heritage, how this material has been used before in old days way up north in Sweden, for everyday purposes like clothing, shoes, wallets – and jewellery. If I can explore new ways to keep this tradition going, I would feel very pround.


  Sanna Svedestedt at work with reindeer skin


Getting to know a material or developing a technique takes time and stamina, but once you have cracked the code of the material you can discover endless possibilities – and you get hooked. At the jewellery department at HDK Gothenburg, this was a common phenomenon. Märta Mattson fell in love with plastics and resin, and if there was anything you needed to know, she would have the answer. Märta moved on to Royal College of Art and graduated this spring with her plastic beetles. We are sure that she will continue to wow us with her delicate specialities.


Märta Mattsson
Brooch: Rebirth. Copper electroformed Atlas beetle, white cubic zirconias, lacquer silver


Klara Brynge took her masters degree from HDK last year. She has been exploring the possibilities of silver. She treats it in ways that make a flat sheet become something like a three-dimensional drawing.


  Klara Brynge
Neckpiece: Untitled 2009. Silver, 15.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 cm

This materialistic relationship is filled with ups and downs – like a love affair. To discover a material is like getting to know someone. It can be a slow process in beginning, taking small steps towards this new acquaintance. Sometimes it is an instant passion. Anything seems possible - until you suddenly heat/bend/soak it too much. Does it break? Yes, sometimes. At this moment it might be time to realize that we are not right for each other. Or, to overcome the obstacles and discover something new.

There are so many super specialists in jewellery. We love these works in hair, rubber and wood - just to mention a few.


 
Francis Willemstijn
Necklace: Hair 2006. Silver, human hair, glass, iron


 
Nikolay Sardamov
Brooch: BI-RE- CYCLE. Blackened silver, rubber



Willemijn de Greef.
Brooch: Spakenburg 1 2009
. Teak wood, silver, paint
15 x 14 x 3,5 cm

Zuiderzeewerken II


Sunny greetings from Barcelona and Gothenburg

Karin Roy Andersson & Sanna Svedestedt