Inspiration may come from many different sources. When we work at our jewellery we put together a lot of ideas about, nature, contemporary art, design, and small daily things. From this magmatic amount of suggestions we try to extract a leading thread on which we create some jewellery that have a meaning, that tell a story.
Said in this way it way, it doesn't mean much, I know.
An example of this process is the rust. Yes, rust. I think rust is wondeful, beautiful, fascinating... I would pick and bring home almost every rusted piece of iron I see. They tell a lot of stories about metal, ground, water, salt and sea, time passing, changes... I could go on for a long time, telling my memories about rust: a rusted lock I found in an abandoned hamlet by the sea in Nysiros Island. The rusted handle of a lonely boathouse here, in Malta. The agicultural tools I found in my old house in Italy.The incredibly old windlass buried in a pebble shore at a few minute's walk from our home.
If I make a rusted-like surface on silver or gold, this immediately gives not only a completely different appearence to the same jewel, but it also gives you the perception of time, of a story, of the material from which the jewel is made. Even if you don't realize it is a rusted-like surface.
Silver and gold are no more there only for their value, or simply as a shape holding precious stones. You see them, you recognize them as metals and you unconsciously recall what you already know about metals: they come from the ground, they need work to be mined, refined, melted, shaped... a whole, long process.This knowledge joins with what a jewels means for you: something precious, special, a personal ornement, a present, your family's story...
This mainly unconscious process modifies your perception of that jewel. Every object tells a story but we like to change the stories jewellery conventionally tell. We love to create pieces that link the work we do at JAD with the subjective, personal experiences of the person who wears it and to the wonderful natural and artistic resources of our planet.
December 2016