a ring is a ring is a ring showcases the work of a year-long collaboration between students of three leading European Jewellery Schools: Alchimia: Contemporary Jewellery School, Florence, Italy, Hochschule Trier, Idar Oberstein, Germany and British Academy of Jewellery, London & Birmingham, UK. In this series, we interview the students who participated in the project.
Can you tell us a little more about the piece you have on display in the show?
My research of the last period has been inevitably influenced from the Erasmus project in Germany and Italy. I am looking for all possible interactions and I like the idea of being able to give, a similar feeling to those who will meet the objects of my imagination. I am keen to create a changing sets, possible an open to many interpretations and interactions. I like to call my latest art work as “interactive object” , I love the idea of being manipulated and interrogated and that everyone can give them a sense in their own world. What I particularly like is the fact that ” interactive object” keep their fluid identity even when they’re are not worn. They are devoid of ” tax direction” but standing alone in multiple surfaces. Both of my pieces are the results of pure manufacture processes, starting from forging every pieces of metal and building them up using techniques from the goldsmith art. I made the “Tetraego ” by using wax carving, casting, drowning and joint with experiment on hot soldering techniques. It’s made from sterling silver and brass. For me it shows the difficulties that human thoughts when it is under the pressure of their own ambition. “Puzzle” represents the way how I interpretate the concepts of connection, protection and memory, it’s my Gimmel. Two independent pieces that have chance to joint perfectly after the right time. They are strong and solid when they separate but they love to meet each other to create different kinds of connections and interactions with the body every time. It used sterling silver square wire joint whit hot soldering techniques.
So the show is titled A RING is A RING is A RING, can you tell us what a ring is to you?
A ring is a representation of the world, an action or a concept. A ring is an expression of a feeling and intuition. A ring is a research through languages: symbolic, iconic and sensorial. A ring is a sculpture for the body and is able to revolutionise and reorganise its own language to create new individual and fresh poetry. Contemporary jewellery are the border where conceptual art meet the body and let’s you touch, shuffle, experiment and rebuilt. A ring is the experience of an interaction with the art product.
What other pieces in the show do you find interesting and why?
I find it very interesting of every pieces in the show because they are the results of an accurate and deep researches, also they all have a brilliant story to tell. I love all the pieces, starting from the wave of glass made by Daniel, the Cocobolo wooden ring curved by Bhavna Neil, the illusionary work of Kika Rufino and the elevation to a piece of design made by Xiao Xi from a plastic bend of common use. I really like the blue stone Chinese box cut from Anora, which hides the ring in the core and brings out mistery and secret. I love the experimentation of Silvia Bonardi with the film around the concept of memory and the research of Alessia Prati with shibuichi along with the creation of her peculiar alloy. I was impressed from the commemoration of a particular daily drama about the Mexican feminicide. It was a honour for me to display my work along with the pieces of brilliant artists.
This was a collaborative project and included 3 other schools, what was the experience like and what have you learned from it?
The experience has been amazing, starting with a workshop with Urlich Reithofer, which had open my mind as a streem of spring air. I learned a lot from other students coming from all over the world, everyone with their peculiar stories and different backgrounds. Through this experience, I can say that I found an important peace of my self with the focus of my actual research. It has been brilliant to dive into those thriving artistic communities, discovering them a way to work and how they approach to the contemporary art society, exploring the quality of the products and the conceptual work around it. This trip gave me so many new tools to add to my “life tool box” and the power of people when they come together to let creativity flowing. In Germany we became conscious that art has emotions and if you are aware of the different emotional stages of the creativity process, your product would be as loud and powerful as your emotion is. In Florence, we had three or more pieces each and the crits has taken about 10 hours. I was very impressed from how much all of us was keen to bring in.
What is your background?
I come from Bologna, a lovely city and cultural centre in the north of Italy. I come from a family where the biggest values are the knowledges that you get to travelling and discovering yourself. After I finished my studies in psychology in Parma I felt like to leave the comfy environment of my childhood and go to looking for wider perspectives and multicultural aspect of our society. I moved to London in 2014, I faced many difficult moments and I had the best and blooming feelings of self realisation and satisfaction like my 3 years journey at the BAJ. In this special city, you can really feel that everything is possible, the energy you can breath coming from 14 million of young people running together all the time. London is a progressive, technological, up to date and contemporary but overall is interaction, communication and integration. I love this unique city because it has been a big part of my life especially of my artistic background.
Why have you become a jeweller?
I decide to became a jeweller when I realised that jewels are sculpture that you can wear. The body is the tool through which we can experience, the world and more senses are involved in a certain piece, the more powerful feeling it will come from the piece itself. The fact that you can wear an object makes the condition for an exchange of energy and power between subject and object, the ornaments are the door of a specific state of mind.
Why should someone visit the show?
You should visit the show if you are interested to see fresh interpretation of the world and if you like the idea of wearing stories and conceptual works instead of a classic jewel. Also, you can appreciate the differences between the approach of three European countries to jewellery. It’s a window to our society because art is a important aspect of culture, like sociology,literature, psychology, science and human history.
Where can we find more information about you and your work?
I’m still working on my website and soon my Instagram page is available to visit: Maya_e_basta_jewellery. Otherwise, if you are interested in collecting jewellery design books, you will find me in the volume “Artistar jewels 2018”, which is going to be available in many international bookshops from February 2018, you will find some more information about my work.
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