Rachael Colley
Jeweller
Published: 06.10.2021
Rachael Colley, photo by Kathrin Koschitzki.
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- rachael.colley
network.rca.ac.uk
Rachael Colley is a Sheffield based artist and senior lecturer in jewellery and metalwork at Sheffield Hallam University. She gained a BA (Hons) in 3D design, specialising in jewellery and silversmithing, at Loughborough University in 2007 and went on to obtain an MA in goldsmithing, silversmithing, metalwork and jewellery from the Royal College of Art in 2010. Rachael thinks through materials, producing cutlery, jewellery and sculpture which are explored in experimental dining events, exhibitions, installations and visual art projects. Pieces from her Sha-green jewellery series are held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Arts and Crafts Itami, Japan and Le Arti Orafe, Florence, Italy.
Statement
Based in Sheffield, the UK’s ‘Steel City’, Rachael creates ambiguous eating implements that challenge our collective connections with food and communicate aspects of her lived experience as a sufferer of the autoimmune disease Systemic Sclerosis. Through the elevation of food waste as a luxury material, her jewellery questions traditional notions of preciousness and value, highlighting broad societal issues surrounding consumption and encouraging reflection on the waste we generate.M(eat) et al
M(eat) et al is a developing collection that juxtaposes foodstuffs with the flesh of the human body, highlighting abject associations and our relationship with food and its consumption. These wearables seek to defamiliarise everyday organic substances through denaturing processes and the materials’ re-presentation as jewellery. The degradable materials’ limited lifespan highlights the fleeting and complex nature of human existence and the passing of time, suggesting the ultimate end that conventional jewellery circumvents through its endurance. M(eat) et al is designed to sit alongside a complimentary set of Ambiguous Implements for eating, grooming, and cleaning, that jointly serve to highlight aspects of contemporary consumer culture.
Sha-Green
Sha-Green series presents food waste, in the form of discarded citrus fruit peel, as a sustainable, biodegradable, vegan alternative to the traditionally animal-based luxurious decorative surface known as shagreen (ray or shark skin). This scented material comes alive when worn, as it is warmed by the body it emits a subtle fruity fragrance. The jewellery's limited lifespan highlights the fleeting and complex nature of human existence and the passing of time, suggesting the ultimate end that conventional jewellery circumvents through its endurance.
CV 
Events
Publications
Rachael Colley, photo by Kathrin Koschitzki.
- Mail:
- rachael.colleynetwork.rca.ac.uk
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