Untitled Neckpieces, Eleanor Bolton, Royal College of Art
ARTS THREAD picks out the Royal College of Art graduates who will soon be making a name for themselves in the world of jewellery and beyond.
Top of ARTS THREAD’s coveted list were these beautiful, sculpture neckpieces by Eleanor Bolton. Eleanor designs her own cotton rope – writing patterns in much the same way as knitting or crochet. She painstakingly coils and stitches metres of rope together to create organic and undulating shapes. Her palette of cream, red and charcoal lends a natural serenity to her large-scale pieces, which are surprisingly lightweight despite including up to 40 or 50 metres of rope.
Nut Lockets, Rowena Murray; Royal College of Art show
Rowena Murray’s playful collection is based on interaction with nature as experienced in childhood. Cultured pearls are painted with vintage inspired dancing girls and insects, while gold rings sport toy frogs. Key pieces include ‘Map Beads’, a large wooden necklace printed with Brazilian place names, but top of ARTS THREAD’s wish list are Murray’s ‘Nut Lockets’. Whimsical, hollow hazelnuts and pecans, inset with traditional engraved locket fronts in gold or silver.
Beetle Juice, The Nest Necklace, Märta Mattsson, Royal College of Art
Continuing the theme of bringing nature close to the body, in her own words Märta Mattsson’s ‘Rebirth’ collection ‘treads a line between attraction and repulsion’. Working with animals and insects, she is inspired by the concept of 18th century cabinet of curiosities to make magical ornaments out of the everyday.
Beetles, which feature prominently in her work, and butterflies are dissected in half and set into resin encrusted with semi precious stones such as yellow cubic zircones, while black Copper Electroformed Beetles are broken in half, their hollow cavities crystallized. In contrast, ‘The Nest Necklace’, is made from layers of butterfly wings, cutwork goatskin, nylon thread and gold, while reindeer skin is formed into fragile broderie bows.
Balsa Rose brooch, URN series, Rachel Colley
Rachael Colley creates new materials by heating and compressing unexpected items from fish & chips, sawdust and blood to meat & potato pie. She then uses her unique materials to create weighty pieces such as ‘My Gang’ rings made from oxidized silver, blood and sawdust, or more decorative, tongue in cheek items such as ‘Collar of Jammy Dodgers’ made from sheets of carved balsa wood, silver and jammy dodger biscuits.
Victoria Delany, Royal College of Art
Already a big hit with press Victoria Delany’s ‘Candlestacks’ were a highlight of the show. Made from silver and lacquered wood painted in toy box colours, they consist of interchangeable pieces which can alter the height and look of the candlesticks. Focusing on dining, other highlights from Delany’s collection included a set of colourful metal mesh bowls and vases, and white table mats printed with wine glass shadows.
Royal College of Art show; Traces 2, Caroline Holt
In contrast Caroline Holt’s sensitive, urban pieces are inspired by the factories and industrial estates of her daily commute into London. Employing unconventional materials such as horse hair, chalk, printed organza and silver thermal blanket, her series of polished concrete and corrugated graphic pendants symbolize an identity and connection with her environment. Pendants compromise vessel and brush, which invite the wearer to explore and engage with their environment through mark making.
Lynne MacLachlan, Royal College of Art
Lynne Maclachlan looks to the science of nature for her inspiration. Organically occurring Fibonacci sequences, bubble structures and crystal formations are combined with rapid prototyping to create her striking and uncanny objects, which include these covetable ‘Bubble rings’.
Nan Nan Liu looks to the way people cleverly store and stack items for travel in China, finding space in unlikely places. Inspired by this concept she has created pieces of space which can be worn as jewellery. Boxes and silhouettes built into garments can either be used to hold physical things or exist as something decorative in their own right.
Katharina Bianca Vones, Royal College of Art
Katharina Bianca Vones focuses on the harmonious imperfections of growth patterns found within nature and architecture, translating these into jewellery pieces that appear to grow on the body – ‘emerging from the crevices of the body like glittering, pustular microcosms.’
Kathryn Hinton explores new possibilities for the manufacture of silverware, with her MPhil on the Craft of Digital Tooling. She has taken traditional hammering methods used in silversmithing and applied them to a digital program. Through the development of a hammer interface, a virtual tool, she is able to recreate the same faceted surfaces produced by hammers on a computer screen. These are then created into physical objects through CAD.
Royal College of Art
Eleanor Bolton
Rowena Murray
Märta Mattsson
Rachael Colley
Lynne Maclachlan
Caroline Holt
Nan Nan Liu: nan-nan.liu@network.rca.ac.uk
Victoria Delany
Kathryn Hinton
