Category Archives: Interviews

IN CONVERSATION WITH PETER MACHATA

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Apr
16

The covid-19 epidemic is already causing major troubles for all of us. For the gallery, this means, among other things, a violent stop of our programmation. In April 2020, we were to host the exhibition “Simple Stories”, introducing the works of artists Jana Machatova and Peter Machata. Since we are unable to show their work in the context of the gallery, we are offering you the opportunity to discover their work through an online exhibition and interviews. Although Jana and Peter are partners in life, they work separately. For this reason, both interviews are published independly. Stay tuned and home! LA Joaillerie : In Bratislava, you were a student of one of the most important Slovakian sculptors, professor Jozef Jankovič. Did it influence your practice and if yes, how ? Peter Machata : I studied sculpture which taught me how to work with space and to connect my works with ideas. I think about jewelry in the same way and I base their creation on similar postulates. Jankovič never tried to insist on us to work with sculpture, he taught us to select the most suitable medium for what we wanted to say. LA Joaillerie : What drove you to […]

IN CONVERSATION WITH JANA MACHATOVA

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Apr
14

The covid-19 epidemic is already causing major troubles for all of us. For the gallery, this means, among other things, a violent stop of our programmation. In April 2020, we were to host the exhibition “Simple Stories”, introducing the works of artists Jana Machatova and Peter Machata. Since we are unable to show their work in the context of the gallery, we are offering you the opportunity to discover their work through an online exhibition and interviews. Although Jana and Peter are partners in life, they work separately. For this reason, both interviews are published independly. Stay tuned and home! LA Joaillerie : You were a student of Anton Cepka in Bratislava, one of the most important international art jewelry masters. Did this influence your practice and if yes, how? Jana Machatova : Cepka was an important artistic role model for me and an authority in his field. I always liked the unambiguity of his artistic expression. He showed me how to look for poetry in everydayness. I don’t deny that I was significantly influenced by his visual expression during my studies until I found my own way. Anton Cepka is a type of introvert who expresses himself through his […]

IN CONVERSATION WITH SERENA HOLM

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Jul
07

Invited to participate in the collective exhibition “Sign of the Times”, Serena Holm is one of our guests whose favorite genre is narrative jewelry. Her baroque and complex works never fail to raise questions among visitors, so we wanted to know a little more about her approach and the reasons that led her to choose two of the thorniest paths when it comes to dealing with contemporary art jewelry: narrative genre and precious materials.   > You were born and raised in Italy. Then you decided to move to Sweden to complete your training as a jeweler. What led you to choose Sweden, when Italy has such an incredible history and great schools, when it comes to jewelry making ? I lived in the south of Italy and although there are many manufacturers of gold and silver jewellery it was hard to find a place where to do apprenticeship. When I tried to do that I had just finished upper secondary school and was then too old and had the wrong gender. Traditionally goldsmiths accept only young guys as trainees in their companies.  So instead I decided then to move to Bologna and study art history.   > You studied […]

IN CONVERSATION WITH JO POND

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Jun
28

We first discovered the brand new body of work created by British artist Jo Pond last January during a visit to  Vittoria Street Gallery in Birmingham. Entitled “Rationed”, this earnest exhibition is now on show at the gallery (until July 14). It was conceived by Jo Pond as a means to pay tribute to all anonymous women and mothers who, during the Blitz period which started in 1940, nevertheless managed to maintain their family unit. Following the tempo of excerpts from her grandmother’s diaries, Jo Pond composed a series of objects according to a method that is now her signature, consisting in laser cutting recycled tin boxes. Old leathers, tokens, kitchen utensils and many other objects, all dated from this period, complete the raw material of a story, both intimate and universal …   > How did you come up with the idea of the “Rationed” series ? I usually find that having an emotional connection with my subject matter leads me to make the most successful outcomes. “Rationed” stemmed from reading through the diaries of my grandmother. I realised that she had documented the air-raids during the Blitz in London and I was able to research the dates and times which […]

INTERVIEW WITH LISA & SCOTT CYLINDER

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Oct
27

On the occasion of the exhibition “TRIPTYCH: Life, Love, Death”, the blog of LA Joaillerie introduces the artists participating in the exhibition. –  Why did you decide to study jewellery design? We met while studying at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. We were both enrolled in the jewellery/metals program. However, individually we were both making small scale sculptures, stylistically quite different from one another. Lisa also studied Fabric and Scott studied Printmaking. We were both drawn in by the scale, intimacy and the materials associated with jewellery. –  According to you, what is the place of jewellery among the other art forms? Jewellery is such a loose term – it can be High Art or subtle decoration. It carries a fascinating history, both as ornament and as a status symbol, which still exists in varying degrees today. The most intriguing part of jewellery for us is that it is portable and intimate. We are also attracted to things that are well crafted, whether they be jewellery, a manufactured object, or a painting. –  What do you think is the role/function of jewellery? The role of jewellery is as a form of expression and exploration of materials and ideas. It […]

INTERVIEW WITH ASAGI MAEDA

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Oct
21

On the occasion of the exhibition “TRIPTYCH: Life, Love, Death”, the blog of LA Joaillerie introduces the artists participating in the exhibition. – How and why did you decide to become a jeweler ? My grandfather was farming culture pearls in Ago bay, Japan. My mother started designing jewellery with his cultured pearls and sold them. This became her craft. I grew up surrounded by pearls. So it was quite natural for me to start making jewellery. – What makes your work so singular ? How did you come, so to say, « to put life in boxes »? I think that the figures made of thin gold wires are characteristics of my work. The stories and words engraved on my jewellery also make it different. I grew up in Tokyo. It’s a big city. I used to like watching buildings through the windows of the train and imagining what kind of people were living there and what kind of life was going on inside these buildings. A building is a box. It’s inorganic. Yet people are living inside. I think it’s very interesting. Each building hides so many stories. This is how I came up with this idea of […]

INTERVIEW WITH ROBIN KRANITZKY & KIM OVERSTREET

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Oct
06

On the occasion of the exhibition “TRIPTYCH: Life, Love, Death”, the blog of LA Joaillerie introduces the artists participating in the exhibition. – Your work is focused on a single type of jewellery (brooch) often incorporated in free-standing sculptures. Why did you decide to create jewellery (wearable art) anyway when you could have chosen to create art objects ? Does it have something to do with «wearability» ? It started with our history. In 1985 the fashion style was focused on wearing lots of jewelry, especially brooches. At that time we wanted to purchase a kiln for our individual ceramic projects and so began making brooches to raise the funds. The brooches were made of broken jewelry parts, beads, and tiny collected treasures. We created more and more brooches paving the way to our current work. We have pondered the pin clasp several times through the years but have always stuck with the idea of the brooch. There is something appealing about having the option of taking the art object with you, having the body be the ” wall “. Over the years the brooch has become our signature work. – Consequently, would you qualify yourself as artists or art […]

INTERVIEW WITH ZOE ARNOLD

Oct
05

On the occasion of the exhibition “TRIPTYCH: Life, Love, Death”, the blog of LA Joaillerie introduces the artists participating in the exhibition. To open this series of interviews, let’s meet British artist Zoe Arnold. – How/why did you become a jeweller ? How would you qualify yourself: a jeweller designing wearable poetry or a poet making jewelry ? Growing up, I had thought I would become a sculptor, having always preferred contemporary or conceptual sculptures and installations to the flat world of the painting. Even so, I still enjoy art that has some craft skill to it. Something that is well made will always draw my attention and my admiration more than art which is merely made to shock. It is very hard to shock people in the art world today, and the way to stand out is now to have depth and meaning but also some craft to your work. I have always been drawn to detail and smaller scale, so Jewellery was a natural progression. I hesitate to label what I do, since my tastes and way of working changes from year to year… I am sometimes a jeweller, an artist, a poet, a designer. I make what […]

A TOOL-PORTRAIT : CARLA GARCIA DURLAN

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Sep
27

Throughout the duration of our current exhibition “Holy Tools!“, the blog of LA Joaillerie invites you to discover the artists participating in the exhibition. Through a tool-Portrait, discover their considerations on tools, their views on crafts and handmaking. Carla Garcia Durlan ’s graphic design degree wasn’t enough so this, combined with the need to work with her hands and exploit her creativity makes her capable of overcoming any artistic obstacle that she comes across. Versatile and fearless, she allows the colourful brushstrokes to clash in her pieces and paintings, revealing boldness and spontaneity that characterises her. A set of coincidences is how she makes jewellery and discovers this world that allows her to unite illustration and painting with new materials, using everything available on her table to invent new techniques and convey her message. – If you were a tool ? I would be a brush. This tool connects me directly to my emotions. I would rather be a large brush, a large brush that leaves a spontaneous and imperfect trace. – If you were a gesture ? I would be a brushstroke , a quick and spontaneous stroke. Nevertheless, these strokes are often thoughtful, or stemming from a long-considered […]

A TOOL-PORTRAIT : MARIA DIEZ SERRAT

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Sep
23

Throughout the duration of our current exhibition “Holy Tools!“, the blog of LA Joaillerie invites you to discover the artists participating in the exhibition. Through a tool-Portrait, discover their considerations on tools, their views on crafts and handmaking. An architect, Maria Diez Serrat feels a certain frustration not being able to portray exactly what she was projecting in her work. Therefore, she discovered jewellery, where her hands speak for her, where the spontaneous movements represent her thoughts. A balance is what she is searching for, both in her personal and artistic sides of life. She combines responsibility with fun, while on her path to self-fulfilment, and with a lot of generosity. Her compositions reflect an eagerness to find the harmony in contradictory ideas: chaos and order, light and darkness, the abstract world and figurative world. – If you were a tool ? Obviously I would not be a measuring tool, because I am not a perfectionist. I identify with the hammer for its ability to transform metal very quickly. I often act impulsively and thus want to make quick decisions. – If you were a gesture ? I would be a quick gesture and made under the influence of the […]