Contemporary jewellery – ideas, materials and techniques

05 Jun 2020 – 20 Sep 2020

Exhibition

Seven jewellery artists interpret our times and environment via various forms, materials and techniques, while also incorporating the history of jewellery and scouting out what’s to come.

We humans have used jewellery to express ourselves since the dawn of time. In recent years, jewellery as an art form and design concept has been expanded and gained importance. More and more people are using jewellery to comment on and influence the society in which we live. Jewellery has the unique property of being both wearable and mobile, which increases its potential of being exhibited and exerting an influence in various environments.

Curator: Sofia Björkman / PLATINA

Participating artists

Annette Dam
Annette Dam creates jewellery that inverts assumptions about what is cheap/valuable, masculine/feminine. Her series Getting Off The Rack resembles packaging components and labels, but instead of plastic or paper, the pieces of jewellery are made of precious metals with gemstones fixed with twisted gold wire onto unfolded shapes. With her Taking the Liberty jewellery, she discusses habitual gender roles and makes visible feminine and masculine forms of expression and adornment.
Annette Dam trained at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, graduating with a master’s degree in 1999. She then studied art history at the University of Copenhagen. She lives and works in Copenhagen.

Annika Pettersson
Annika Pettersson combines reconstructed materials and digital techniques with traditional handcraft. Her starting point is the fact that jewellery tells us about history and in the future will show people what our era is like now. The results are new pieces of jewellery that remind us of old ones.
Annika Pettersson studied at the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm (Konstfack), graduating with a master’s degree in 2009. Since then she has exhibited frequently both in Sweden and internationally. She currently lives and works in both Sweden and the USA.

Caroline Lindholm
Brightening up everyday life is a key theme for Caroline Lindholm. She often manifests this by transforming small utility objects into exquisite artworks in precious materials. Small items are stored in pots and containers at home or carried on journeys in pendants and portable objects. Drawing attention to these items increases people’s awareness of their importance and extends their lifespan and thereby sustainability.
Caroline Lindholm studied at the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm (Konstfack) in Stockholm, graduating with a master’s degree in 1996. She lives and works in Stockholm.

Elin Flognman
Elin Flognman works with everyday forms and objects such as potatoes and utility items. By means of artistic and artisanal processes she enables these objects to rise up through the class system. Her jewellery pieces tell stories of daily life and luxury, function and decoration, and material hierarchies. A potato journeys from the soil via the kitchen and workbench to become a golden ornament for a collar. Elin Flognman studied at the School of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg (HDK), graduating with a master’s degree in 2013. She then did further training via a series of stand-alone courses. She lives and works in Trollhättan.

Linnea Eriksson
Linnéa Eriksson’s works are playful, experimental and colourful. Her creativity originates in the urban environment: the city’s raw surfaces and structured geometry with its sharply defined lines. She finds inspiration in the metal itself, in the feeling of heavy beats, and in the colour explosions from the inside of spray cans. The power of her jewellery comes from the combination of traditional handcraft and young, contemporary expression. Linnéa Eriksson studied at the University of Gothenburg (HDK), graduating with a master’s degree in 2011. She then trained to be a goldsmith at Lärcenter Falköping in 2017.

Manon Van Kouswijk
Manon Van Kouswijk is a well-known jewellery artist who has devoted her entire professional career to exploring the bead necklace and the pieces of jewellery that we describe as strings of beads. In playful ways she experiments with their meanings and forms. In the series. Heart Beats she has used wooden beads which we recognise from children’s counting boards, and the necklace No Worry Beads consists of porcelain smileys. Manon Van Kouswijk has both studied and taught as a professor at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. She is originally from the Netherlands and now lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.

Sofia Björkman
When Sofia Björkman was given a 3D pen as a birthday present, she began creating 3D drawings of various experiences. Her work came to focus on our environment and how we humans influence it. Last winter her work took a new direction: her landscapes began to blossom and she understood that she was working with hope. The flowers symbolise the brief beauty of life. The material is PLA, a bioplastic made of cornstarch.
Sofia Björkman studied at the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm (Konstfack), graduating with a master’s degree in 1998. She then launched the PLATINA gallery of contemporary jewellery in Stockholm, where she is based.