Contemporary jewelry should not be a final answer to a question, but an open ending. Zihan Yang interviewed by Klimt02

What's local and universal in your artistic work?
My work is my journal. It creates a starting point to trigger a conversation or reveal the phenomenon of my daily life to provoke thought. It records and summarizes every day, vents emotion, and expresses a point of view. The process of creation means more local for me.  It is how I put my points of view and the movement of the psyche in my pieces.
After I create the piece, the piece will exist as an individual, and the feeling that it belongs to me will slowly fade away. Once finished, the work not only acts as a medium to express meaning but also provides an invisible space for the audience to talk with themselves. This leaves space for the viewer to enjoy the work and see a different perspective or perhaps enlightenment. The artwork must face the world by itself to learn, to feel, to discover, and to be its true self.


What do you expect when you show your work to the public (for example, with an exhibition)?
During my process of creation, I believe that contemporary jewelry should not be a final answer to a question, but an open ending, which provokes thought, awakens desire, offers potential and is barely perceptible.
Jewelry as a tangible art form allows people to resonate spiritually with the work by pursuing more than mere beauty. Spiritual expression and communication provide an unlimited space where contemporary jewelry artists (as well as viewers) can express, perceive, and even rethink their relationship between their inner voice and the outside world.
I wish my work is able to focus on the spiritual meaning of jewelry that acts as a sign that opens for introspection for viewers and the creator to have a space for introspection and autognosis.
Might be forgetting all the above if my work could able to let a viewer stop and look at it. It might be enough for me.


How important is the handmade for you in your development? What role does technics and technology play in your development?
I feel like this is the only way that I am able to make a connection with my work. Handmade plays an indispensable role in my development of the creation process. Technology saves me a lot of time to finish a piece and gives me more possibilities to create dynamic structures and forms. It is just a tool for me. The handmade technics that I use to create my pieces are not complicated; however, I have to continue to develop the details to reach my goal.
There are so many technics for making jewelry, and I respect the details of each technic because each of them makes a unique result and express the differences. There are no simple technics. The details make everything different.


When you start making a new piece what is your process? How much of it is a pre formulated plan and how much do you let the material spontaneity lead you?
Most of the time, I follow my hands to feel materials. I organize the small elements with my hands, and I experience the quiet when I engage with the small elements. It is a process that continues day by day. Meanwhile, manipulation of the repeated elements within these boundaries allows me to have my own space for contemplation. Constant deliberation enables me to have more and more space to express my points of view and able to get out of the moment where I am making a piece of jewelry to look at my piece as a viewer. It is quite difficult for me to have a pre-plan of the design process to say how it looks. So most of the time, I will let it go to see what happens.


How important is wearability in contemporary jewellery? And in your pieces?
I believe that how you understand the wearability in contemporary jewelry is more important. For me, the wearer not only means people who wear my pieces but also means anything that touched my pieces as well. Such as a piece of wood board that displays my pieces.


What/who is the biggest influence in your career?
Everything I experienced that influences my career.


Considering the experiences you have had over the years - if you could go back and give yourself a piece of advice for the start-up phase, what would that be?
I would like to remain the same.


Can you describe your personality in 3 words, describe your work in 3 words.
Positive, Vigilant, Intuitive.
Repetition, Restraint, Intergrowth.