Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : history

For your sun-worshipping pleasure: a look at some traditional Hawaiian jewelry by Philip Rickard

Kristin Sutter — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:46:00 GMT

I just came across an article about Hawaiian jeweler Philip Rickard, who wrote the book Hawaiian Heirloom: A Lasting Remembrance after researching the topic for six years. Rickard was recently commissioned to make traditional jewelry pieces for a historical feature movie about Hawaii's Princess Ka'iulani, who reportedly was fond of bracelets. Rickard's research led him to the discovery that one royal bracelet in particular held a message in its traditional Victorian symbols; Rickard calls the message "Queen Lili’uokalani's prayer." Click here to read more about the movie Rickard is involved with and to see news clips of an interview with him, where he shows his replica jewelry pieces.

Does jewelry from other cultures intrigue you? If so, what cultures? Do you buy cultural jewelry? Or do you make your own versions of it? I'd love to hear your stories and see pictures of your work!

—Kristin

Can you make a living by making objects of beauty? An exhibit of Wiener Werkstätte jewelry at Neue Galerie inspires questions.

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:00:00 GMT

From now until June 30, 2008, you can visit Neue Galerie in New York to see an exhibit of jewelry from the Weiner Werkstätte (Vienna workshops), a movement that developed at the same time and with a similar ideology as the English Arts and Crafts movement. I found out about the exhibit from an article by Ken Johnson that appeared in the New York Times.

Johnson's review, "Rage Against the Machine with Artisans and Beauty," piqued my interest, because the more I read, the more I recognized similarities between those artisans from a few generations ago and our beloved Art Jewelry readers. Johnson points out that the jewelry's value for these artisans came "not from the raw materials but from its aesthetic, the purview of artists and designers, and its craftsmanship, handled by the workshop’s expert artisans." In every issue of Art Jewelry, we publish pieces that fit this description — it's one of our defining characteristics.

But in his review, Johnson goes on to talk about how the Wiener Werkstätte was an "ultimately untenable business model" that failed partly because it didn't have a "political vision." Instead, he says, "Its only purpose was to make beautiful things without compromising artistic quality, an expensive ambition." He hopefully suggests at the end of his review that perhaps such a movement could survive in, say, the 21st century with "rich and enlightened patrons."

The article raised a lot of questions for me:

How do you, as an artist, find the line between accessible art and quality materials and craftsmanship? Or do you even feel the need to make your art accessible in the first place?
Is it necessary to have a political vision behind your work in order for it to sell? Or can you simply make objects of beauty that are marketable on that merit alone?
Do the "political" pieces sell better than the "beautiful" pieces, or do 21st-century buyers actually fork over more money for objects of beauty rather than for pieces with political vision? Are you finding "rich and enlightened patrons"?
How does the mass-production of jewelry continue to affect you as a craftsperson?
How do modern concerns about social responsibility (where do we get our metals and our stones, what chemicals are we using, do we have sustainable working practices, etc.) compare to the concerns that the early-19th-century artisans had?

Of course, the list could go on. But I'm really eager to hear what you have to say about this. To share your thoughts, leave a comment in the comment box below.

—Kristin

Reflections on ancient Scottish jewelry

Katie Streeter — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:08:00 GMT

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that I recently went to Scotland for vacation. One of the great places I visited in Scotland is the National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh. The museum is 7 floors high, and it's packed with fascinating exhibits on nearly everything you can image. Many of the exhibits include videos and other interactive elements, making it a great place to visit with children.

One of my favorite exhibits is the large exhibit on the early people of Scotland. The exhibit includes jewelry that's centuries old, such as this brooch (left). The brooch is constructed of silver and includes red glass and gold inlay. The piece dates to 700 A.D. and was found in Westness, on Scotland's Orkney Islands.

The chain (right) dates from 600 A.D., and was found near Gaulcross.

I think it's amazing that so much jewelry has lasted for centuries, and it makes me wonder what will happen to the jewelry that artists make today. Will one of your creations be discovered 1400 years in the future? Who will find it? What will the people be like? Will they wonder about you, the artists who made the piece in 2008? What do you think?

Wedding ring makeover part 2: the new design may be a band with bead-set champagne melee diamonds

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:19:00 GMT

If you've read my last blog post, you know that I'm in the process of revamping my wedding band to commemorate my and my husband's five-year wedding anniversary (read good excuse to change the design of a ring that neither of us loves). I'll be keeping the vintage engagement ring intact, but I'll have the band's infinity-symbol design changed because it's a bit jarring next to the delicate filigree.

Seconds after Associate Editor Addie Kidd told me that a good jeweler would incorporate my existing band's metal into a new band, she and I were brainstorming the new design. I attempted to sketch the design my husband had given to the jewelers five years ago (he mimicked some of the filigree pattern), but I wasn't remembering it right. Addie said, "You could add stones," and my first thought was, "No, that would be gaudy." She said, "They could be little. You could do a band with melee diamonds — they could be about 1 mm." And before I could reject the idea for looking too much like a mother's ring, I thought, "I could do champagne diamonds! And they would match the color of my metal (which isn't modern white gold, but an antique, yellower alloy). And I could do 13 of them!" (I would have 13 diamonds because that was my favorite number before I met my husband, it also happened to be his favorite number, serendipitously we started dating on the 13th, and we got married on the 13th.)

Addie pointed out that if I did 1 mm bead-set champagne diamonds, the stones wouldn't draw attention away from the engagement ring; they would merely provide sparkle. Also, 13 stones would line up nicely, one centered on the engagement ring's diamond and six on each side. She suggested that I have the melee diamonds bead-set to mimic the vintage look. She found a good example of what she envisioned here in a piece by Etienne Perret. Of course, my band would look a bit different from Perret's. I'd like to keep the filigree and etching on the side of the band to mimic the engagement ring, and the band will need to curve to fit the contour of my ring. If at all possible, I'm hoping that the band will be a bit thinner than it is right now, too.

So, that's the concept for the new design. I am, however, open to further suggestions. If you want to throw any ideas into the mix, just comment below. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

—Kristin

Today in jewelry history...

Addie Kidd — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:31:00 GMT

Do you want to know what today is???

Well on this day way back in 1848, gold was first accidentally discovered near Sacramento by James Marshall and Johann Sutter, thus starting the California gold rush.

I know this, and now you do too, because my co-worker Kristin Sutter (perhaps she's related to Johnann...?) shared with me her Forgotten English word-of-the-day calendar. And today's word, thematically inspired by that historical fact, is a fantastic word: clinquant.

I was a bit sad that I'd never heard of this old French-based word before (And 20 bonus vocabulary points to you if you already had.), because it means "glittering with gold." What a cool adjective. I'm huge fan of specificity like that, especially with jewelry-related words.

Now I just wish I had some glittering gold to play with in the studio for the rest of the afternoon. But with the price of gold any more ($913.00 USD/oz. as I type this – Ouch!), I think I'll make due with some sparkly silver instead.

Hair-Raising Find?

Katie Streeter — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:57:00 GMT

On the weekends, I often work at Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor living-history museum in Eagle, Wisconsin. While there, I usually wear a reproduction bustle dress, the fashion of the 1870s.

While researching what kinds of jewelry I could wear with the dress, I found that Victorians often adorned themselves with hair! Hairwork was very popular as mourning jewelry and also as love tokens. Hair was woven or crocheted around wires or cords to make tubes of hair, which were then used for bracelets, necklaces, watch chains, and more. This hair jewelry was given to a loved one as a keepsake or, in the case of mourning jewelry, made from the hair of the deceased and saved. If you want to see some hairwork or learn more about it, visit the Victorian Hair Artists Guild or the Victorian Hairwork Society.

Some people think it's odd, but I think it's a wonderful tradition. I've never been a scrapbooker, but I might try making a bit of hairwork to remember loved ones by.

So tell me, would you make hairwork jewelry? Have you made jewelry out of unusual materials before?