Sara Malm. HDK - Academy of Design and Crafts. Selected Graduate 2016

HDK - Academy of Design and Crafts, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Sara Malm, In Line With
I believe in my hands. They made this work possible. When I trust them magic arises.
But I need to give them tools and feed them with materials. I need to set limits and to lend them time. Also not judge them to hard, but still be critical at the right moment. The hardest part is to make them all work together.

Teamwork.
To make body, time and materials collaborate at the same time. And in that same moment invite the process to take place. When all these components are in the same room I smell a result. A result that is grounded on choices I've made from day one. It’s not been about taking the right decisions. It’s been about let every part of the work agree together. 

I base my work on three materials.
Wood, metal and leather. They carries different qualities that feel comfortable in my hand. I look upon the materials as flat. Based on my experience they give me different resistance and abilities when I hold them in my hands. They challenge me in separate ways.

I pull, fold, stretch, bend and divide. Reduce and enlarge. Connect. Disconnect. Look for a context with a body or a part of a body. Listening to the shape, hear what it has to say and conveys it to the viewer through my hands.
The shape has been the framework for the whole project. Initially a safe zone that I would have to expose with more time and courage. See how far it would take me and what it wanted to teach me. I found out that I don't need to have all the answers, I don't always need to know why. I am grateful for all the working hours it has given me and excited about the next ones. If I had found the answer, I would have lost the magic and the ambition to go further on.
 
Satisfaction.
The last part of the story.
When the technical parts clicks together, the colors pops in the way I want and the line puts an end to the material, the jewelry tells me that it's satisfied. It’s finished, it’s saturated and ready to go on to a wearer. My chapter is done, I have put all my thoughts, crafts, knowledge and experience that was needed for it to be finished. It's not up to me to judge whether it is a good story or not, but for sure I can tell you that it is true. And soon its time for the next chapter.


Sara Malm started her studies at HDK in 2010. Throughout her studies at BA and MA Sara has thoroughly and deeply investigated and developed her artistic language and interest in how form meets function and how jewellery and objects communicates and interacts with the body and the space we move in in everyday life. She plays in her work with a great sense of humour and thoughtfulness. Sara has gone deep in to investigating materials, shapes and colours she felt an attraction to, and opened them up with an eye for details and possibilities. With meticulous and careful work with material, form and technique Sara has throughout her master exam shown a sharp sense of skill, knowledge and artistic maturity.
 
The projects during the BA program in jewellery art at HDK are focused on giving the students a broad knowledge in the field as well as an indivdual identity in their artistic work to develop further, either with studies at advanced level or on their own. In the MA program the students are incouraged to deepen their investigaitons. In the master program the students work in indivdual projects with tutoring with professor and teachers, both permanent and visiting teachers and tutors from outside the school.
The Jewellery Art programmes work in close connection with the ceramic and textile art programmes in an open atmosphere where students cross share knowledge and experiences over the fields.
The Jewellery Art programme and the MA programme in craft at HDK - Academy of Design and Crafts is a part of the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts at University of Gothenburg.

HDK offers Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degree programmes.

Find out more about the courses and deadlines for applications to HDK - Academy of Design and Crafts.