Featured designer: Estelle Vernon

Text: Estelle Vernon, Sandra Kemppainen

Photos: Victor Wolansky, Hap Sakwa

Estelle Vernon lives in Washington, DC metropolitan area and she is a resident artist at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia. 

The Torpedo Factory is a 40 year old art center on the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria. 

I am always drawn to interesting and modern looking jewelry designs, therefore I just had to contact Estelle and feature her work.

Her pieces are so eye catching and elegant, they would perfectly compliment an every-day outfit at work or a more fancy evening wear for a special occasion.

Being a photographer myself, I love the fact that she has managed to integrate the art of 35mm photography into her jewelry designs.

“I studied jewelry at Montgomery College, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Touchstone Center for Crafts along with many years of workshops  given by the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths. Every summer I study with John Cogswell, a noted silversmith and teacher.  His classes  have enabled me to improve my skills and  strive to make clean, well constructed jewelry.” - Estelle

“My story actually began in HIgh School in the late 1960’s. I took an art metals class as my final elective in high school. I made rings, chains and cut a few cabochon stones. 

I remember making a ring for my mother where I cut and polished the tigers eye cabochon and then set the stone in a silver ring. My mother, who is 95 years young, still has that ring in her jewelry box. I went to college to study liberal arts and then Audiology. 

I was unable to take jewelry classes at the school I attended because I wasn’t admitted to the art school. After working as a clinical Audiologist for the National Institutes of Health, I registered for a jewelry class at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. I have been making jewelry ever since. 

I love working with precious metals especially sterling silver and 24k gold in the keum boo technique. I love the feel of the metal.I love the contrast between oxidized silver and keum boo. The gold really “pops” when the silver is darkened.

I have been using the keum boo technique in my work since 1987 since I learned about it from Professor Komelia Okim. Professor Okim is largely responsible for introducing the technique to the USA from Korea.”

The Keum Boo Technique:

This Korean technique for applying 24k gold to silver is in fact widely used in various cultures; Japanese, Chinese and in the west historically primarily to adhere gold to iron, steel and copper.

Traditionally, this technique is accomplished by first depleting the surface of sterling silver to bring up a thin layer of fine silver. Then 24 carat gold foil is applied with heat and pressure - mechanical gilding - to produce a permanent diffusion bond.

Pure precious metals such as gold and silver have a very similar atomic structure and therefore have a good potential for bonding. 

Heating these metals to a temperature between 500-700°F increases the movement of the atoms. When pressure is added, this causes an electron exchange at the surface between the two metals, creating a permanent diffusion bond. 

This diffusion bond occurs far below the soldering temperature for either metal.

Pure precious metals such as gold and silver have a very similar atomic structure and therefore have a good potential for bonding. 

Heating these metals to a temperature between 500-700°F increases the movement of the atoms. When pressure is added, this causes an electron exchange at the surface between the two metals, creating a permanent diffusion bond. 

This diffusion bond occurs far below the soldering temperature for either metal.

For now, Estelle’s work is available only at the Torpedo Factory Studio which is open to the public and at a small number of craft shows in the Washington DC area. 

Her jewelry appeals to people who love wearable jewelry designed with an elegant simplicity. Estelle’s work is timeless and appeals to both men and women. Her brooches have been purchased by both men and women who appreciate art jewelry.

Estelle’s work can be seen on her website, but more up to date on her Facebook Page, with latest shows and images. She is exhibiting at the Academy Art Museum’s sixteenth annual craft show in Easton, Maryland October 17-19, 2014.  Her work will also be shown at the James Renwick Alliance’s JRA Day December 6, 2014.

Featured designer: Marianne Hunter - Reinventing Art Nouveau

Text: Sandra Kemppainen, Marianne Hunter

Photos: George Post, Hap Sakwa, Marianne Hunter

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. 

The name “Art Nouveau” is French for “new art”. 

A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in curved lines. Architects tried to harmonize with the natural environment. 

It is also considered a philosophy of design of furniture, which was designed according to the whole building and made part of ordinary life.

Jewellery of the Art Nouveau period revitalised the jeweller’s art, with nature as the principal source of inspiration, complemented by new levels of virtuosity in enamelling and the introduction of new materials, such as opals and semi-precious stones. 

The widespread interest in Japanese art and the more specialised enthusiasm for Japanese metalworking skills fostered new themes and approaches to ornament.

Jewelry designer Marianne Hunter finds inspiration in antique and estate jewelry that she can incorporate into new designs or reclaim the gold and diamonds. “It makes me smile to be a recycler of diamonds “says the jeweler.

The shapes and colors of her stunning jewellery makes the viewer think of the elegant shapes and lines of Art Nouveau, but with a new, fresh feel. The materials Marianne uses are also present in Art Nouveau jewellery.

Marianne Hunter discovered her métier and medium at a very young age: “My high school boyfriend asked me, ‘Have you ever tried enamelling?’ and we bought a $12.50 toy kiln with six colors to work with. I was instantly fascinated.” 

She remains fascinated decades later. Discovering the art of enamel work  opened up a new realm of expression and creativity that she is still exploring today. It is the cornerstone of Marianne’s art.

Completely self-taught, experimenting, developing her own techniques, she devised methods for thinly layering enamel to achieve finer details. Her early grisaille wove images from nature, fantasy and history together, rendered in shades of black, white and grey. A friend, a fellow jeweler, advised her to learn fine metal work as well. “Setting my enamels in sterling silver let people perceive them as serious pieces, “Marianne recalls.  From that point on, she never repeated a design.

She is well-versed in the uses of enchantment. Marianne Hunter draws ideas and images from nature, fairytales, astronomy tribal arts, history and mythology, delving deep into the collective unconscious to create jewelry that is beyond beautiful: it is mystical and powerful as well.

To add another layer of meaning, Marianne Hunter composes and engraves an original poem on the reverse of each piece. “Some people share the poetry, “she says. “Others like to keep it to themselves.”

Each piece of Marianne Hunter’s jewelry is a unique assemblage of enamel, gems and precious metals, an object of surpassing beauty and the product of her life-long fascination with jewelry, stones and color.

A Marianne Hunter jewel becomes a personal emblem, and a private talisman, an ecstatic celebration of all that is feminine: life-giving and protective, emanating beauty, strength, peacefulness and the sheer joy of being human. She is not just a jewelry designer: she is an artist, working with jewelry as her medium.

“The person who wears it, “she says, “completes the sculpture.”

It is not only the layers of enamel work that are so intricate, but also the thought behind the design. 

To Marianne, nothing is arbitrary, everything is deeply thought out. In spite of their smallish size, her  kimono pendant designs have all the richness and complexity of the full costumes.

The placement of the enamel is so delicate, that even a breath of air can move a tiny bit of colour out if place. “I can’t have a fan in my studio, I can’t have someone walking by. I have to be careful saying p’s and t’s because of the plosive sounds they make. I have spent so much of my life holding my breath.”

Teaching herself the techniques of silver- and later, gold smithing was tedious at first for Marianne. It seemed so mechanical. Still, she persisted, experimenting to find her own methods, and her artistic breakthrough came. “In the beginning, enamel was all I cared about; the metal work was a chore,” she recalls. “When I learned to be playful and painterly with metals, when it became part of the creativity, I fell in love with it.”

Today, Marianne Hunter’s mastery of metal work rivals her creativity with enamel. She sets her pieces in richly textured 14 to 24 karat gold, sterling silver and platinum, fabricated, engraved or sculpted with a fluidity that transforms the precious metals into magical textiles.

Her enamel work has evolved as well. “My husband {artist William Hunter} convinced me to add color, “says Marianne. “A joyous revelation.”  Now, color dances through Marianne Hunter’s designs.

Exotic gemstones complete the effect.  

She prefers unexpected gems, inclusions and phenomenal iridescence. 

She loves the intense green complexity of demantoid garnets, the mysterious indigo of tanzanite, fancy colored diamonds and baroque pearls. 

Opal, the queen of gems is Marianne’s favorite. “Not the pale, white stones of the past, but the fabulous flashing, bold and patterned varieties such as boulder opals, koroit, yowah, fossil, crystal and black opals, “ explains Marianne. “I select each stone for the story I see in it. I could never grow bored with them. “

Each piece of Marianne Hunter’s jewelry is a unique assemblage of enamel, gems and precious metals, an object of surpassing beauty and the product of her life-long fascination with jewelry, stones and color.

Each of her unique jewellery starts from a drawing. 

From her studio in the small town on the coast of California, Portugese Bend, Marianne Hunter only creates twenty to twenty-five pieces a year, and accepts a small number of private commissions. 

“I will draw for a few weeks. I take tons of material out of the safe until I find what I want. I pick up to four designs to work on and then cut the copper panels. I will take one panel and start the enamel work. I can work all day on one panel. It takes anywhere from 40 firings up to 100 firings.”

Marianne encourages her customers to bring in their old jewellery, things they may have inherited and never worm, in order to rework the precious elements. For example, once she took “a dreadful cocktail ring and used the diamonds from it to create a piece the client could wear.”

A Marianne Hunter jewel is truly a rare objet d’art, an investment in beauty and a future heirloom. A recognised modern master of the art of enamel, Marianne’s work has been seen in numerous museum exhibitions in the US and abroad, and her jewelry is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Mint Museum in Charlotte North Carolina, the Oakland Museum of Art, the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, California and the American Art Museum Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. 

Featured designer: Jagna Birecka - Contemporary art jewelry in polymer clay

The first time I was playing with polymer clay was more than 20 years ago. I was making things that today I wouldn’t even think of making but at that time I was very happy that I was able to make anything out of material that was completely new to me. 

Mostly I was making simple shapes and then attaching little flowers, leaves and other forms to them. I did not give much thought to the design as I was not being to serious about it – those things were selling and that was about all that counted to me. I mean, in a way those pieces were pretty but they had nothing to do with my style. The funny thing is I did not even think I actually could make something I would really like. It was a new medium, you did not see many things made out of it and the ones you actually did were mostly made in similar style.

Now, it is important to mention that I lived in Poland and there was no Internet at that time – in some other places people were making really cool things but I found them out only much later. When, quite accidentally, I laid my hands on polymer clay again things were looking different.

I knew much more of the medium, I got to know some beautiful works made by some great polymer clay artists and I could start looking for my own path (which I am still doing). This time there is no sculpted flowers, no ornaments – I still prefer simple shapes but now I make them interesting with color and texture rather than with fancy ornaments.

I am making pieces that are unique and one of a kind. I am 100% independent, which means everything that has to do with my artwork, even very remotely, I am doing myself. But if I could afford it, I would be happy to hire somebody to help me out with the things that need to be done and in fact have nothing to do with creating my pieces. That would leave me much more time and energy for the creative work – that would also make me look more like a business. Would it be bad? I don’t think so. 

Would it make my pieces less valuable? I don’t think so either. 

I love experiments so I am working on my own versions of techniques that I think most interesting, like mokume gane,  imprinting or mica shift for example. I find inspiration pretty much everywhere: in the books I read, movies I see, places I visit, works of artist I admire… For the rest I follow my intuition – I make things that I feel like making and making which is keeping me happy.

First – after some serious sketching I got the general idea. I wanted the necklace to be rich and have a very strong winter feel. The title I have for it – ‘Queen of Ice’ – is saying everything about what I want the necklace to be.

So, this is when my architectural background (together with the CAD applications that I still have installed on my PC) is coming in very handy. Since the beads are not going to be round, I want to figure out their shapes so that the overall layout is flowing. Here is the computer work at a few stages:

I was quite satisfied with what I got, so I printed out the layout in the actual size, cut out the paper beads and put them together on the table.

The next step was cutting out the forms for the beads – I like to have paper forms with windows in which I can see the pattern I will have on the bead. To me it is quite essential to have a great control over the pattern, especially when it comes to some special pieces, like this one.

Sandra Kemppainen, Jagna Birecka, photos by Jagna Birecka

Featured designer: Andreas Schiffler The German designer living in Spain

When I found myself browsing Andreas’s shop, I was immediately drawn to the beautiful and very modern looking designs of his jewelry.
His high quality designs reflect an imaginative mind and talented craftsmanship. I like the way he combines shiny with matt, straight lines with circles, gold with silver. His jewelry is classy and yet so modern.

- Tell me about who you are and where you live, where you studied, where your shop is, your workshop etc.
Andreas: “I am a German self-made jeweller with a part time life between Barcelona and Formentera; in both places a workshop, in both places a part of my heart.
I came to Spain in 1993 looking for new horizons after studying Metal Processing and Plasterer in Germany, and in Formentera I started to experiment with techniques and materials and I came into contact with a craftsman’s world.
I’ve learned Jewellery on my own with freedom and patience, always in direct contact and feedback with my clients.”

- How did you discover your passion and get started with it?
“Mother Nature gave me the first inspiration to create jewels with little things found in the forest and the sea, and the studies with industrial metal production, the technical support to develop my creativity. I remember that my first vocation test gave as a result I had skill for this.
So I guess it’s been really like developing who you really are, on one side.”

- Do you have a favourite material you work with? If yes, why?
“Silver and stones have been the main materials in my work. Silver, the noble humble metal, stones: the ancient earth tresors … I truly don’t know, can create a poem for you about this perhaps, but the fact is that I choose materials among my reach in a very intuitive way. Reason is not always working in the process.


- Could you describe the steps you take in designing and creating a piece?

“Well, I work with ideas, but my items are created in action, they are created at the working table. There’s a famous saying attributed to Picasso that goes something like “inspiration does exist and sometimes comes, but you’d better be at your workshop”. And I am very pragmatic, I don’t theorise.


- How does the place where you live influence your work?
“The place where I live influences my work the same way as the places I visit when I travel. Everything around me influences my work. I’m not particularly conscious of any special aspect. Let’s allow psychologists do their work, I prefer mine.”

- Which is your favourite ever item you created?
“That is hard to say, I have many favourite items that represent different moments along the last 20 years…”


- Who is your favourite designer and why?
“My favourite designer is nature, ever surprising, simple elements, functional, beautiful, endless combinations, cruel, tender, wise; everything.
A remarkable characteristic of my self-made condition is that I never paid much attention to the work of designers, especially during the first 10 or 15 years of my career. But if you want a name, one comes to my mind now:  Michael Zobel, because of the way he uses and combines materials.”

“I have two workshops, one in Barcelona at La Casa de la Espiral, calle Asturias 78 Barcelona inside the Gracia neighbourhood; and another one in Formentera, where I work between June and September, selling my production at the Handicraft Market of La Mola.”

You can find Andreas’s creations also online: 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/andreasschiffler

http://andreasschiffler.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/andreasschifflerjewelery

Text: Sandra Kemppainen, photos: Andreas Schiffler