Siri Hansen. Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design New Talents Award Nominee 2026

Name of graduating student: Siri Hansen
Name of guiding teacher: Anders Ljungberg

Nominated by Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design.


In her work, Siri Hansen explores the artistic potential of plastic, a material often dismissed within the consumption-driven flows of everyday life, but one that is carefully refined through her artistic practice. A historical and conceptual point of departure in Hansen's work is minerals and humanity's extraction of them, yet her own "mine" is often found within the immediacy of our everyday surroundings. Through the development of her own tools, she creates jewellery that reveals an unexpected beauty where we might never have expected to find it.

Hansen also investigates the relationship between display and jewellery in a manner that is both humorous and congenial. Drawing inspiration from the display traditions of goldsmithing as well as from other, more unexpected contexts, she creates displays that evoke both recognition and surprise.

The choice of materials and objects is largely guided by whatever happens to capture Hansen's open and curious gaze, with shifts in value and humour serving as constant features of her practice. Through this work, Siri Hansen demonstrates in an exemplary way the potential of contemporary craft in general, and jewellery in particular, to foster understanding, closeness, and empathy for the intrinsic qualities of materials in a society where much of this has been lost.
/ Anders Ljungberg


Artist statement:

This thesis explores plastic waste as both a material and a concept within a contemporary jewellery context. It is explored through different mediums, such as making, collecting and wearing the pieces. The research examines how discarded plastics can be transformed into jewellery in order to challenge material hierarchies, notions of value and the ethics of production in a time of environmental crisis. The research aims to position the artistic practice within the context of the Anthropocene.

The project introduces the word Plasticsmithing as a way to describe a jewellery practice that adapts traditional silver- and goldsmithing tools and techniques to work with plastic waste as the material. The thesis is guided by questions about sustainability, material value and political jewellery. It asks whether jewellery can function as a form of protest. Through experimenting, collecting, melting, cutting and reshaping waste, the work resists the notion of disposability, and instead uses time, care and craftsmanship to give it new value.

Wearability is a central part of the research. By placing waste materials on the body – where precious metals and gemstones are traditionally worn – the jewellery aims to invite the viewer to engage with the jewellery, as well as being an invitation to a conversation about waste and value. Interviews with wearers reveal how meaning can emerge through this interaction. Through this, the wearers become collaborators with the project.

The thesis does not aim to offer solutions, but rather to explore the tension and contradiction between working with sustainability and still producing objects. Ultimately, the research sees waste not as an endpoint, but as a beginning: a starting point for transformation, critique and imagination.


Contact:
Mail: siri.hansen@live.se
Website: sirihansen.se
Instagram: @sirihansen2


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