Something blue

A new bubble bracelet and neckpiece

Maker's Mark

Melbourne Jeweller  has started a directory of Australian makers' marks on her blog. Australian contemporary makers, send your mark to Melbourne Jeweller to be included in the directory.  

Here is my maker's mark, composed of my initials. 

Something new

Just finished: an engagement ring in 18kt yellow gold with a lab-created diamond grown in my home state of Michigan.

 

This one's extra special - it's for me.

 

A couple of images of the making of the setting and the ring.

 

RMIT Gold & Silversmithing Auction 2011

The RMIT Gold and Silversmithing Auction is coming up on Thursday 11 August 2011 at the Bella Union Bar in Trades Hall, Melbourne. Viewing starts from 5:30pm with bidding from 6:30. As always, it promises to be an exciting night with lots of beautiful work under the hammer. All work is donated by students, alumni and the Melbourne jewellery community and proceeds go toward the students' graduate exhibition at the end of the year. Work can be previewed on their blog.

Here's a sneak peek of my piece for the auction: 

Gerrit Rietveld Academie

These photos are from a visit to the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 2009, as part of a trip to the Netherlands for the exhibition Jewellery Topos at Galerie Marzee. We were invited to visit the light-filled studios of their "Jewellery Apartment" (the department name was leftover from a recent exhibition) and met some of the students over a lovely lunch.

 

Afterwards we gave a presentation on the work exhibitied in Jewellery Topos at Galerie Marzee in nearby Nijmegen. 

Jewellery Topos & Melbourne Hollowware

 

These images are from the exhibition of Jewellery Topos at Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, the Netherlands in February 2009. 

  

Jewellery Topos was an exhibition of 18 Melbourne jewellers around the concept of 'topos' (meaning 'of place', Greek). It was also shown at First Site Gallery, Melbourne in 2009 and in a slightly different form at Gallery Loupe, Montclair, New Jersey, USA in 2011. 

The exhibition Melbourne Hollowware was shown on another level of the gallery at the same time. Melbourne Hollowware showcased the silversmithing, vessel and object-based work of eleven Melbourne makers.

 

Galerie Marzee is a veritable treasure trove of contemporary jewellery and hollowware. The permanent collection and up to four temporary exhibitions at a time are displayed on plinths, walls and shelves, over images, in cabinets and in drawers over four stories, making it the largest contemporary jewellery gallery in the world.  The permanent collection, which could occupy you for days on its own, is a comprehensive survey of contemporary jewellery, giving the gallery the added function of a museum.

 

The gallery publishes a quarterly magazine which doubles as its exhibition catalogues, and has published a series of hardcover books featuring pieces from the permanent collection worn by prominent local women.

Business Cards

My new business cards, printed earlier in the year in preparation for my trip to Talente, by Print Together. They're lovely people in Fitzroy who print beautiful things on 100% recycled paper with vegetable-based inks using 'collective printing', where by printing similar customers' print runs together the equipment is used more efficiently and more cost-effectively for you.

Padua

 Photo Mark Ashkanasy, RMIT Gallery, 2011

Gioielli d'Autore: Padova e la Scuola dell'oro (Italian Contemporary Jewellery: Padua and its Jewellery School) is showing now at RMIT Gallery. Curated by the City of Padua, the exhibition features more than 150 works by 16 of the Padua jewellery school's internationally acclaimed Italian jewellers. This exhibition is an in-depth look at Italian contemporary jewellery, with a focus on the treatment of materials, particularly gold.

The images here are courtesy of the RMIT Gallery, with thanks.

  Photo Mark Ashkanasy, RMIT Gallery, 2011

The brooches in gold, gold leaf and sprinkles of enamel by Graziano Visintin combine a geometric simplicity of form with the soft delicacy of their surface treatment. Melbourne Jeweller has an image of this work on her blog.

Stefano Marchetti's neckpieces and brooches are formed by the marriage of metals to create sheet with varying triangular patterns.

The intricate geometric repetitions of Paolo Maurizio's snake-like neckpieces are endlessly fascinating. (The image below shows a detail of Maruizio's neckpieces in the Danner Rotunde jewellery collection at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, taken during my trip to Munich earlier this year. Similar works are on display at the RMIT Gallery.)

The exhibition runs until 14 August.

 

 Photo Mark Ashkanasy, RMIT Gallery, 2011

Patterns

This is a stenciled frieze panel from the wall of the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room.

This is a wall in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.