Entrepreneurship

I worked through a ten-week entrepreneurship, online, program run by the Wadhwani Foundation in India. The program consisted of students working in groups of threes to work on their business plan. I was grouped with two fine art students and we didn't have a business idea so we worked on a hypothetical website, on Wix that was never launched, where art and jewellery students can sell their work. The program was a lot of work but it made me realize how beneficial entrepreneurship skills are when you have practical skills that can easily be turned into a business. 

I run the jewellery departments table at the I Heart Market but due to Covid-19, the number of traders and customers at the market has decreased. After observing this I realized if I want to sell my work I need to look at other options such as selling through Instagram, Facebook or starting a website like we did for the course.

Links: summary video & Final PowerPoint

Plan

 My plan for this year is to develop a design/s that can then be mass-produced or made into spin-offs that can be tested in the market.

For me to develop a design I need to find a starting point, during my diploma the lecturers would give us a theme or a form of jewellery as our starting point. I have always struggled to find my starting point but I have settled on working towards my sunflower earring. 

While working on my sunflower earring I want to work on spin-offs that I can be easily mass-produced to then be sold at the market or on a website.

Bowes, K.,(2021). Workbench

Introduction

My progress report consists of my research into organic jewellery. My research was compiled using action research methodology. This research was done using online articles and books, as well as the Virtual Gallery of Contemporary Jewellery. I used these writings to understand the functions of jewellery, organic jewellery, mixed materials, the design process and to develop my topic. My references consist of work done by professional jewellers that use different techniques and subject matter. I explain how nature influences each jeweller's work and how they relate to my prototypes. My prototypes were made using casting, enamel and texturing metal in different ways. I spent most of my time producing prototypes, with the platinum brooch being the only project that lead to a finished piece. This does not take into account the embroidery I did during the pandemic lockdown to keep busy, as that project produced masks rather than a piece of jewellery.

My theme

My focus for my theme was to research and develop my definition of organic jewellery. I achieved this by looking at the academic writings of Bruce Metcal, Kenneth Quickenden and Liz Olver. According to Quickenden (2000) organic jewellery echoes nature, for me this fall in the category of spiritual mediation according to the three traditional functions of jewellery (Metcalf, 1998). This is because the jewellery that echoes nature reminds me of the beauty of nature when it is untouched by humans. 

Through the process of making my prototypes, I was inspired by Liz Olver (2002:98-103) to design as I worked and echo nature by immortalizing it through casting and mixing materials. With my prototypes, I expressed my fascination with leaves, the cellular and physical, and other organic objects. However, as I create my finished pieces of jewellery from my prototypes, I think my personal connection to each piece will become more apparent. 

Topic Development

I am interested in nature and organic composition. I find the boundless variety of textures, forms and construction of detailed patterns formed by different leaves fascinating. 

This year I have spent time developing and looking at different aspects of the form and cellular structures to gain a better understanding of the skills and imagery I want to work with. 

My aim is to translate my vision of a leaf's biology into wearable pieces using different techniques so that the leaves are referenced either directly or indirectly. 

Adapted writing from Liz Olver's The Art Of Jewellery Design (2002:.9-103)

Bowes.K. (2020).Untitled. Embossing of my copper cutout

Organic Magnification

As I have been finishing off my semester report I noticed something about all my unfinished pieces. I am looking at growth, mostly in plants, from three different magnifications: the plant as a whole, segments of the plant and the cellular structure. Growth happens at different levels, it starts with cells that together make up the tissue(leaves), those tissues create an organism (the plant). 

So far in my work, I have used different techniques to display each stage, I cast whole succulents, used leaf skeletons as enamel stencils and in my platinum piece pierced out patterns that resemble cells. I want to continue with enamelling, casting and piercing but I don't want to restrict each stage of magnification to a single technique.

I am not focusing on one particular plant as different plant work better for different processes, for example, succulent leaves can't be made into skeletons but they have a perfect thickness for casting but the flaming glorybower leaves are the only leaves I have found to work when making the skeleton leaves. 

Biological diagram of a leaf
https://o.quizlet.com/zIlVHfngIiKm0zPje6Lojw_b.jpg 

Organic overview - Liz Oliver

The Art of Jewellery Design by Liz Oliver has an interesting overview of the organic concept (2002:98-103). Olver explains that ‘organic’ refers to work that is derived from nature that influences the jeweller's inspiration, materials, process and design.

Inspiration for almost everything has an element that can be found in nature including shapes, textures, materials, colours and forms. Nature can stimulate all our senses which fuel the design process by sparking inspiration. For example, the taste is stimulated by flavours and food, smell by floral scents, hearing by animal calls, touch by textures and sight by patterns. I would say sight is the sense that influences my inspiration.

The design process can be described as organic even if the final design does not resemble anything organic. Letting the design evolve during the creative process and making it more random adds to the natural feel of organic jewellery. "Organic forms can be immortalized through processes such as casting and electroforming,"(2002:100) I have done this by casting plants and it can be seen in figure 1 where sycamore seed pods were cast and used in a brooch.

Curvaceous lines and abstract forms are seen as natural. Figure 2 is an example of leaves that were used to design abstract natural forms to create jewellery pieces. Even though there is a lot of examples of symmetry in nature there is probably an equal amount of asymmetry which is why I chose organic jewellery. I do not like making symmetrical jewellery because I find it is almost impossible to create symmetrical or identical jewellery pieces as no two pieces are ever the same.

Figure 1- Olver, L.,(2002).
Cast silver seed pods brooch with stones 

Figure 2 - Olver, L., (2002). abstract jewellery forms 

Organic

According to Kenneth Quickend (2000), organic design debates modern design and echoes nature even if it is not made from organic materials. Organic jewellery is often defined as being derived from animal or vegetable matter but organic materials are not as widely available as they once were because nature is currently under threat by global warming. 

Jewellers can help slow these negative impacts by refusing to use materials from endangered species such as ivory. I choose to be one of those jewellers and preserve nature by not using organic materials that will affect the environment. The majority of jewellers dealing with environmental issues are women, which is significant as women are traditionally associated with nature. 

Interest in organic themes express cycles of growth, decay, death and renewal through forms, structures, and colour. Organic imagery can be seen everywhere with a return to softer designs using asymmetry and softer flowing lines.  

Gilles Jonemann loves modern society and explores the possibilities of combining organic and other materials in a complex way that express different values. The natural fragile urchin is combined with the durable strength of a modern material like resin which can be seen in the image below, thus conserving nature. Similarly way, I preserve my leaf skeletons in epoxy and my succulents by casting them.

Jonemann, G., (n.d). Urchin ring. Silver, sea urchin and resin.

Topic unpacked

I'm trying to unpack my topic a bit more to see what direction I want to take.

Why leaves? I have always been interested in biology and how things work.

Why biology? I did biology in high school and tutor it still today. I have always interested in how things work, for example how we don't have to think about breathing but we do it naturally. Leaves are not just a shape they are cells and systems that work together to make sure the plant lives.

 Rosenkrantz,J. (2020) stainless steel pendant
https://www.instagram.com/p/B71BviyBqjz/

Organic

Organic is anything derived from living matter (plants or animals). Organic jewellery is anything that echos nature whether it is abstract, material or non-organic material. using organic materials can be difficult due to availability under threat. Organic jewellery is also expressed through structures, colours and forms.

According to Gilles Jonemann, in the Virtual Gallery of Contemporary Jewellery, people have two needs the first is to invent and the second is to discover but the inventions destroy most of nature. Nature is a necessary space where we dream and refresh ourselves.

I feel I am a discoverer I have always been intrigued by biology which is the science of living matter in all forms, it helps that I am a biology tutor for high school students at my church. In nature, there are multiple patterns that are repeated (Fig. 1) such as fractal patterns which goes from a cellular level to the organism as a whole. There are also patterns in colours, texture and growth. Organic imagery also has rich symbolism of life, growth, decay, death and renewal which is all part of life. I will probably won't work with many organic materials as unless I am casting from them as I have a love-hate relationship with as pollen gives me a rash and organic materials can be quite fragile.

In between all my studies, tutoring and church involvement, I also run the I Heart Market for DUT. I want to also to incorporate my entrepreneurship skills somehow into my advanced diploma if possible. Whether it is making pieces and making spin-offs for the market or another way I probably just haven't discovered yet. 

Figure 1 - Patterns repeated in nature
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/08/d0/34/08d0343bd1321e53cbb0304c482e1d2e.jpg

Mixed material summary

Mixed materials in jewellery refer to the combination of precious and non-precious materials. Non-precious materials are either manipulated to look precious, by plating and other methods, or enhanced with precious materials. Mixing of precious and non-precious materials allows for the contrast of texture and colour. Jamie Bennett's 6th Garden (Fig. 1) is a great example of enhancing and manipulating non-precious materials. Enamel is used to manipulate copper to look precious and the enamel (which is also non-precious) is enhanced by being set in gold. Enamelling, is the fusing of powdered glass to metal, is a technique that I have been experimenting with to bring colour into my work. Mixed materials can be seen as the mixing of the sacred and profane where the precious is sacred and the non-precious is profane. The use of mixed materials is less about jewellers being obliged to use the precious with the non-precious and more about the aesthetic and meaning of the piece (Quickened,2000).

Bennett, J., (1999). 6th Garden. Enamel on copper in a gold brooch.