Mette Saabye. Lost in Time

Movement making marks and leaving imprints in the air. We try to hold on to the experience. Put it in a pocket and hide it away. In the very moment the sentence is uttered. The smell was a mix of sweet and sour. Childhood before everything went wrong. Put it in a pocket. A precious memory, contained in a little treasure without meaning or value. Nothing is more precious than diamonds and gold. Mette knows this. She puts our memories in pockets. In a pocket on a necklace. In a pocket on a brooch.
Like a puppeteer, she pulls her gold thread and makes us dance and squeal. Fascinated by glittery stones and shiny metal, but mostly fascinated by the familiar. But to seduce is not enough. Finish, decoration and form are not enough. The real content hides inside. The little object worth hiding. Precious. Just knowing that it exists is enough. Keep, hide, cover. The seal makes the memory’s anatomy unbreakable. It is tied, folded and twisted. Still, the quest is impossible. The memory of the memory. Remembrance. Remember to remember. Forget me not.

With sophisticated craftsmanship and deep knowledge of jewellery as media, Mette Saabye investigates jewellery’s potential. The themes ‘value’ and ‘remembrance’ are investigated again and again. With new visual tools each time. Everyday objects are transformed and elevated to the finest jewels. Their fundamental properties are highlighted and encapsulated so they take on new meanings. Because the material and the object’s value are only decided by social conventions. Their value is altered when they represent a personal memory. It is this paradox that Mette Saabye stages by mixing ‘insignificant’ objects with precious materials such as gold, silver, and stones.
She has the piece of jewellery’s iconographic meaning in mind throughout. The pieces have a recognisable and universal jewellery feel. The ring, pendant, and brooch as jewellery archetypes are twisted, but without detaching them from their interaction with the body. Jewellery is to be worn and the wear of time is ever-present. As the body changes over time, so does the piece of jewellery, to reveal new content.
In this jewellery series, Mette Saabye balances on a knife edge between the universal and the personal.

Bettina Køppe
Architect MAA


Layout: Rasmus Eckardt
Photo: Dorte Krogh
Snapshots: Mette Saabye