Encounters Between Body, Metal, And Fabrics Captivates me. Omri Goren interviewed by Klimt02

Tell us about your background. What were your first influences to be creative and become an artist and what has drawn you to contemporary jewellery?
I came from a very artistic home, Grandpa Painter, a mother who always dealt and exposed us to art and my older sister who is an art teacher today.

My first encounter with the world was through my grandfather, he was a painter at the same time as a beverage business he had in Tel Aviv. And on Saturdays when I was sleeping there, he would buy me a little canvas and he would teach me to paint in oil paint. We used to go to museums together and he would explain to me the various brush strokes and types, different artist, etc. And since I remember myself drawing a lot, my notebooks were full of paintings, dresses, jewelry, shoes, dancers always interested me. Already in preschool the kids in the class came to me and asked me to draw them the topics that interested them. At an older age, I studied at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem for my bachelor's degree in jewelry and fashion. And from there I went on to work in Paris, at the same time as I was studying for a master's degree and a doctorate, the research topic was: The designer's role as a communication mediator.
 
 
What are your general thoughts on the contemporary jewellery world, (education, market, development...), where do you see chances and where are dead ends?
I think the main idea to focus on is trying to innovate, it's also what I focus with my students on, developing a unique language of design, and innovating something in the local and international landscape. To give a new interpretation with conceptual content that they passionate about.


Omri Goren, memory brooch 02, 2020, Color extraction powders, brass, 9.6 x 5.6 x 0.7 cm
 

How has your work changed over the past few years and what are you excited about these days?
I worked for many years as a fashion designer, I was head designer in Paris of evening wear fashion and participated in several fashion weeks. I returned to Israel in 2008 and started an independent business for bridal and evening wear, for the past decade in parallel the work at my studio I am a senior lecturer at Bezalel. The artistic focus has evolved from clothing to jewelry. The encounters between body and metal and fabrics are what captivates me. This past year, I went back to engaging in a dialogue that started with my grandfather since I was a kid, taking his paintings and giving them new life in body jewelry and space jewelry.
 
 
Thinking about your career, what role do technology and digital play in your artistic development & communication?
The technology in my objects exists in the transition between the media, between my grandfather's painting that I scan it and transfer it to another material, changing its size. And breathes new life into it. Burn it to metal and then revitalize it with pigments that I add to the metal. I take the painting and change its location from the wall to the body and return to space jewelry.