Artist statement
A basic theme in my work is placing ordinary objects of use in the perspective of jewellery.
Objects of daily use often become intimately important and indispensable to people. What one keeps and owns, often contains an emotional value next to its practical function or worth. Moreover, it can be seen as a representation of its owner. In my work, I explore how these kinds of objects can relate to the body and the individual. Wearing jewellery on the body is the most intimate and direct form of showing this specific relationship to an object.
As I like to investigatethe boundaries of traditional jewellery, my work interacts with divers related disciplines and concepts.
Various traditions linked to objects or jewellery, the history of those and stories about them are a great source of inspiration for me. I like to reinterpret classical genres of art- and jewellery history, always relating those topics to my own contemporary reality.
More recently, my jewellery and objects tend to act as a metaphor for an inner stage of mind. Objects of everyday life and the materiality of the domestic serve as a carrier to express and reflect on emotions.
In the conduction of my work, I use various craft techniques and materials, that are telling their own stories about preciousness and adornment, like ceramic tableware, (precious) metal, Japanese Urushi lacquer, textile and glassware. These materials usually come from interlocking themes of domesticity, table and food culture.
Sometimes, I use existing objects as basic material. In a way, I am reusing and recycling material. But moreover, I am transforming and redirecting their message. By manipulating these commodities, I am isolating various layers of meanings and associations that inhere shape, pattern and material of an object, in order to take on these values in my work.
