Maike Browning

maikebrowningjewellery

I really like the idea behind these earrings, that when you look at them on someone straight on they may just appear as simple earrings but when you look at them from the side the detail shows. I think this would be very effective with filigree in the sides. 

Finding a little inspiration

So I have been feeling very uninspired lately because I have just been making orders which I have received off my Facebook page and jewellery for the markets and I want to try get back into making more contemporary pieces. So I am going to try find a piece of jewellery, an object or a pattern that inspires me to get my creative juices flowing again. 

Where am I Heading?

After my meeting with Chris today about my B-tech I am feeling a little bit more confident in what it is I have to do. 

While I have been focusing on the market jewellery and creating a business which does fall into my B-tech, but it should make up a smaller portion of my focus and maybe come in at a later stage. I need to focus more on my contemporary pieces and then making spin offs of these to sell at the market. In this way I will not only be creating commercial jewellery which I have seen and that is very popular but I will start creating my own distinct style of more commercially viable jewellery.

What does Contemporary Jewellery mean?

I found this article by Benjamin Lignel while looking through Klimt02. 

Lignel says how contemporary jewellery is a type of practice understood as the offspring of craft-based design which became popular in the 60's as a  way to show craftsmanship and individuality as apposed to mass produced jewellery. Most jewellers would agree that contemporary jewellery is at a crossroad between craft, design and art.

Klimt02

I like how he compares art to jewellery because contemporary jewellery is an expression of ourselves, as jewellers we just use a different material to artist, where they would use paint we use metal.

B Heart G Ring

I received this order and my customer wishes to use it as a wedding band. I have 2 problems (challenges) with this ring at the moment. My first problem (challenge) is that because the G is an open letter it is slightly warping when I bend the ring round, the second thing is that she now wants a diamond set in the heart and I have never dealt with Diamonds before so where do I get them from? 

This is the positive of receiving orders because they take you out of your comfort zone, push your abilities and often you learn something new in the process..

Careers Day

We went to man the stand at the Northlands careers day. There was a bit of interest in our table but I think that because its not a profession that is widely known or considered as a career path the students were slightly hesitant to come and ask about it.

I think if we were to do it again in the future it would be helpful to bring more tools to show the students, some fine silver and images of people working in the workshop for them to see what it actually entails.

Daisies

I am trying to make jewellery which is using patterns, images, textures and materials which are currently trending. I saw on WGSN that the Daisy is currently very popular and since I have read that I have been seeing Daisies in clothing and accessories in a lot of shops. So strange how I didn't notice it until I read the article. 

I am going to use the Daisy as a reference for my next piece.

Once Off vs Mass Produced

She (Susan Cohn, Melbourne) chaired a session at the conference on the same theme, ie: 'Jewellers and metalsmiths (indeed all craftspersons) may argue that, since industrialisation, roles have changed. Things for day to day use are now mass-produced. The industrial designer develops the ideas and the objects are made by machinery. So, craftspersons, whose role is confused, have tended towards one-off 'art' production. Do they need to? Isn't it time to do some refocussing, to rethink the market and cultural production. The selected members exhibition Production/Reproduction attempts to address this issue by posing the question, 'Can production pieces have the same value, relevance and impact as the one-off piece?' (extract from JMGA conference brochure, 1995).

Power House Museum

I agree with the above statement. I feel that we have to compete with mass produced jewellery from overseas which is often a lot cheaper than handmade once off pieces, and because of this many independent jewellers are now doing "mass production" of their own pieces but on a much smaller scale. I am not saying that there isn't a market for once off jewellery pieces, there is, but it is a much smaller market. So in order to make money producing jewellery I feel that the bread and butter would be your own "mass produced" range and then once off pieces should be made to demonstrate your skills.

89Plus

The main talk which stuck in my head at the Design Indaba Simulcast was the 89Plus discussion. This didn't stick in my head because of their artistic metrit, but for the topic which the majority of them based their work on. Most of the artists based their work on Apartheid which I found very strange and slightly disturbing. These were people who were "born frees" basically and may have experienced Apartheid for 5 years but were still so stuck on it. I feel that they were just reinforcing the negative things which have happened in our past instead of looking into the future of our country.  I know that Apartheid is an important part of South African history but wouldn't it is be better so showcase to the world how our country has improved rather than showing them how even the 89Plus are still so stuck on this topic.