NO-BODY a creative collaboration between Inge de Vor and Hanneke van Leeuwen. Inge de Vor is a textile designer based in the Netherlands. “Composed elements” is her first collection of scarves. The collection started by intuitively creating small elements by hand, for example with paint and colour pencil and arranging them in compositions.This resulted in artworks with dramatic clouds on pastel coloured backgrounds, a sea of lilac dots in different hues, playful multicoloured organic creatures and mint with navy rosette dots. The artworks are digitally printed on carefully selected fabrics in the Netherlands. For the series ‘No-Body’ Hanneke used Inge’s collection of scarves as her inspiration and subject. Images of naked bodies in conjunction with the scarves form the raw material for a series of photographic collages with a strong autonomous entity. In 2008 Hanneke van Leeuwen graduated from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. She currently lives and works as a photographer in Amsterdam. Shape and texture play an important role in her work, they create a tension between the abstract and the figurative. With these elements she investigates the border between the inner and outer world; sometimes she looks upon her models as part of a landscape; sometimes they form the landscape themselves. The autonomous vision of Hanneke, and her exploring way of working makes way for interesting new perspectives. To share your project, please email: info@current-obsession.com with subject line: WORK SUBMISSION

Brussels Design Septemberis a vibrant event that powers over 100 cultural and commercial events events in Brussels. We were invited for a press meeting and several shows around the city and really enjoyed the curatorial selection and the company of event's curator Delphine Vercauteren. 'For a month, the city will become the meeting platform for many Belgian designers and include also many international designers. For its ninth year, the festival will continue to showcase design’s various applications and multidisciplinary relationship through design: furniture, architecture, graphics, textile… A wide range of quality events offered by many independent associations and organisations will add to the cultural component of Design September; exhibitions, conferences, a design market, a Pecha Kucha, visits of studios of Brussels-based designers, … Like every year, a large number of emerging creators will be taking part in this urban circuit. Throughout the month, participating stores, pop-up stores and iconic design flagship stores will stage a brand and/or a designer and its new products in a particular fashion.' Here is a selection of things to see in Brussels this month complied by CO: #1 The Power of Object(s), Design Bestsellers in Belgium. 04. 09 > 11.01 Espace Culturel ING – Mont des Arts Place Royale 6, B1000 Mon – Sun 10am – 6pm (wed 9pm) +32 (0) 2 547 22 92 www.madbrussels.be The exhibition explores the work of 25 leading Belgian designers, whose objects are presented from somewhat unexpected angles: I - MOST ICONIC OBJECT The designer’s most publicised and/or signature item. The object that most encapsulates his/her work. € - MOST ECONOMICALLY SUCCESSFUL OBJECT The one that has proved the most personally profitable. This is the object on which the designer established his or her caress, or took it to the next level. # - BESTSELLING DESIGN From the commercial point of view, a good product is first and foremost one that sells. And it’s clear from those sales figures that the design has now become accessible to everyone. Work by: Marina Bautier - Alain Berteau - Big Game - Bram Boo - Jean-François D'Or - Nathalie Dewez - Anthony Duffeleer - Nedda El-Asmar - Axel Enthoven - Alain Gilles - Davy Grosemans - Vincent Jalet - Charles Kaisin - Bart Lens - Xavier Lust - Christa Reniers - Stefan Schöning - Diane Steverlynck - Piet Stockmans - Maarten Van Severen - Danny Venlet - Luc Vincent - Sylvain Willenz - Drik Wynants - Michael Young Installation by Christa Reniers Work by Nedda El-Asmar #2 Lucie Koldova at Diito Gallery 09.09 > 30.09 Diito Rue de l’Aurore 62, B1000 +32 (0) 2 646 16 10 Tue – Sat 10.30am – 6.30pm www.luciekoldova.com www.diito.be We really enjoyed the fresh colourful work and the unusual combinations of materials and forms by Czech designer Lucie Koldová and Diito Gallery: 'She presents the exclusive selection of designer's crucial projects designed during past ten years. 
From the impressive amount of projects the author has picked one product for one year which was groundbreaking for her approach and career.
The unique collection demonstrates designer's intense unorthodox sense for the material, proportions and form and the capability to view design from different angles.' Lucie Koldova giving a small presentation of her work   #3 La Chance @ Patterns 09.09 > 30.09 Rue Américaine 40, B1050 Tue – Sat 10.30am – 6.30pm +32 (0) 473 51 62 72 www.patterns-bxl.com PATTERNS is a new delightful design store. We have found not only some exquisite objects, but really liked the way they were curated and presented. 'Our goal is to offer an eclectic choice by the mixing of the styles in a moved, elegant and honorable spirit through singular objects and a quality vintage selection Around renewed themes, PATTERNS makes every effort to select projects for their Originality, their quality of manufacturing and their strong identity Choices dictated by the story that tells us these objects and their designers, their creative approach and their sensibility.' #4 Cruso & Jean-François D'Or 09.09 > 30.09 Bar à Tapas Waterloosesteenweg 412a, B1050 Tue – Sat 11am – 7pm +32 (0) 478 66 58 66 www.cruso.com 'Cruso is a brand that brings together the designer’s world and the artisan’s passion, offering furniture made from noble, environmentally-friendly materials. For its first edition, Cruso will be working with Jean-François D’Or, former student at La Cambre, 2013 Designer of the Year and famous reference in the world of Belgian design.' Events we haven't had a chance to visit, but would like to mention: Objection OBJECTION 01_MATERIAL UNKNOWN 06.09 > 28.09 Objection (Charlotte Dumoncel d’Argence & Julien Carretero) Rue de la Tulipe 8, B1050 Sat – Sun 11am – 6pm +32 (0) 497 53 89 09 www.charlottedumonceldargence.com www.juliencarretero.com 'In 1969, designer Joe Colombo decided to position himself against consumerism and stopped producing goods for the sake of contributing to capitalism. He founded the antidesign movement, as a new look upon the production of objects, in opposition to the design as an elitist symbol. To illustrate his vision, he designed an apartment in Milan, set as a living experiment: the Habitat Futuribile. At this occasion, the prestigious Italian magazine Domus published an article entitled «Casa V.I.P. per un V.I.P.» partly written by Colombo himself. The latter, conscious of the power of medias to diffuse his ideas, decided to build his project in diverse shades of pink, knowing that this color would provide a richer palette of greys once published in the black and white magazine. This project can be considered as one of the first example of media manipulation in the design field.
 Thirty years later, the development of 3d modeling softwares and of the Internet enables young and unknown designer Ora-Ito to conceive uncommissioned products for prestigious brands. Advertising them with 3D renderings, he managed to get his non-existing products published in magazines. They became viral online and reached such an audience, that major brands including the ones he had hacked offered him to collaborate. 01_ MATERIAL: UNKNOWN features a selection of 3D renderings published on design blogs over the last six months. At the time these projects were published, none of them had been produced. It questions what brings designers to communicate on projects that are still immaterial. Whether it is to raise funds, to provoke the interest from potential consumers or even out of narcissism, the projects presented illustrate these various motivations.
From relevant ideas and prospective concepts to unproduceable absurdities, this exhibition offers a panorama of virtual design production. The low-resolution images of these projects found online are scaled up to their supposed real size and printed on tracing paper. Through this process, they lose the sleek and flawless appearance of 3D renderings and gain a position in space.
In addition, the presentation includes a selection of articles that confronts different opinions to the subject of virtual products; extracted from international publications spanning over the last 10 years. They provide a background overview on the growing importance of virtual design in communication, production and consumption.' House Sweet House by Ron Gilad @ Keitelman Gallery 12.09 > 31.10 Keitelman Gallery Rue Van Eyck 44, B1000 Tue – Sat 12pm – 6pm +32 (0) 511 35 80 www.keitelmangallery.com Utopia 12.09 > 28.09 Recyclart Rue des Ursulines 21, B1000 Tue – Fri 2pm – 6pm (16.09 & 17.09 > 11pm) Weekend 11am > 6am www.recyclart.be delphinedenereaz.tumblr.com "Entfaltung" - Folding 'Lines and spaces are communicated and delineated via the simple act of folding. The course of the colours on the inside of the motif is created through free hand movements. Emerging depths and forms produce graphical intricacies. Entfaltung evokes something that folds, unfolds, develops, builds and operates ... The word undertakes technical and poetic notions. Delphine Dénéreaz: "Sports d’Hiver au Mont Serein" Household objects inspired by a souvenir collection, gathered in the vicinity of tourist sites, symbolic witnesses and stereotypes of a passage to the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Alpe D'Huez. I re-appropriate the graphic organization of postcards or ceramic plates in tablecloths, rugs or blankets, by playing with and mixing shapes and scales. With humor, I bring idyllic landscapes and dream destinations into our everyday life.'

Kali recently emerged on the London fashion scene after graduating from the Royal College of Art with her graduate MA collection, 'Wild for the Night'. Seeking to bring a fresh, youthful dialogue to luxury men’s accessories, Kali is inspired by the city in which she grew up in, London. Pulling from a library of references, including club and youth culture, the collection consists of four men’s caps and accompanying jewellery entitled 'Streatham', 'Peckham, 'Stockwell' and 'Brixton'. From the linings to the zipper pulls, each piece challenges conventional notions of urban luxury, seeking to push the boundaries of the men's high-end accessory market by producing handmade and 3D manipulated gold plated jewellery and headwear of the finest quality. A gold chain motif, symbolic of grime sub culture ties the collection together. Conspicuous pieces include: a Mercedes-Benz pendant; a gold tooth hair comb modelled using 3D software (this item also doubles as a necklace); a headphones necklace wrapped in leather; a gold chain with large 3D printed gold tooth pendant; a purple leather cap with chain relief moulding and printed satin lining; a black leather and gold plated, photo etched panel cap; a gold leather snap back cap featuring a zip peak pocket and printed satin lining and a white speckled cap with boxy peak and printed satin lining. Colours: purple, gold, black, turquoise and white speckles. Materials and processes: leather and suede, gold plated silver and brass, 3D printed castings, digitally printed satin and bespoke fittings. www.kalijewellery.co.uk

MORA LASNIER S2015 by Aldo Benitez on Mixcloud Buenos Aires-based jewellery designer Mora Lasnier started studying jewellery four years ago and in July 2014 released her first collection, visual outcome of which hinges on collaboration with a photographer, a sculptor, a graphic designer and a musician.

Pearl necklace remains an iconic piece of jewellery representing classic femininity. Bella Mung, recent Central Saint Martins graduate, not only questions its hidden potential, but pushes the string of pearls out of its gender and social containment. She uses the jewellery classic as a hip-hop hoodie string and ties up a pair of leather bots with it. See more of Bella's work here

The Province of Zeeland (The Netherlands) boasts a rich history in terms of trade and agriculture. This wealth has traditionally been reflected in the local population’s clothes and jewellery. While it is interesting to research the aesthetics of these objects, such wealth also raises questions about its origins. The fact is that wealth comes at a price, as historical research has shown. On Sea & Land provides a missing link between historians and the public. It visualizes the more difficult aspects of Zealand's history [such as slave trade] using traditional local crafts, while providing added depth to these and giving them a new lease of life. See more of Gerard's work here

Mandy Roos: Invasion Of The Foot Carrier Inspired by old school sci-fi films and their imaginary visions of the future, spaceships and unknown universes. Dated visions of technology and old-fashioned retro styles create a lighthearted, humorous reflection of the past vs the future. In the ‘Invasion Of The Foot Carrier’ the sole is the essential basis. Sometimes the foot is sinked in the sole or absorbed by slime. Other soles have caterpillar tracks. Ideas for the materiality of the soles are, for example, plastic-inspired acrylate, silicone or rubber, concrete- and plaster-like materials, fluid, foam or slime. Transparency plays a big role and has various degradations. The 'Invasion Of The Foot Carrier' is an inspirational vision meant for the footwear industry. See more of Mandy's work here

Mysterious sculptures by Los Angeles-based fine artist and photographer Amanda Charchian are whirling in the air, reflecting sunlight with their gleaming facets. Symbols and words in constant motion slowly blowing thoughts of secret societies and occults our way. Veiled By The Unseen Hand Eye Walker eYes The Initiate from Amanda Charchian on Vimeo. See more of Amdanda's work here

Munich Jewellery Week 2015 & CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER Every year in March thousands of international jewellery makers, dealers and collectors gather in Munich. Last year Handwerksmesse - hosting both Schmuck and Talente exhibitions - was visited by 138.000 people, meanwhile the city of Munich bloomed with exciting exhibitions counting 69 individual event openings. Undoubtedly, this week is one of the main highlights on Contemporary Jewellery’s yearly calendar. In March 2014 CURRENT OBSESSION presented CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER - a complete guide to Munich Jewellery Week, which included a large city map + detailed previews and images of each featured event, a ‘must-see’ list, articles and photoshoots. PAPER received positive feedback from both the participants and the public and almost sold out, proving to be a much needed tool of communication and promotion. Following last year’s success we will release the new edition of PAPER, this time with more exciting content and twice as thick! In 2015 PAPER will again serve as a curated source of information helping the visitors navigate the city, find out what’s on and what’s interesting. PAPER will be sold at selected of locations in Munich, including Pinakothek der Moderne, International Trade Fair at the stand of CHROME YELLOW BOOKS, etc. The pre-sales will start the 20th of February on our online shop: http://currentobsession.bigcartel.com But this is not all... This year we've asked ourselves: As Contemporary Jewellery continues to struggle to find new audiences - onlookers and collectors, how can we make Munich Jewellery Week visible to as many people as possible? How can we make the locals, the tourists and the passers-by curious about what Munich Jewellery Week is all about? Inspired by the major design and art events around the world, we've designed a special visual identity that will belong to Munich Jewellery Week. This identity includes a logo, a website www.munichjewelleryweek.com and street signs announcing Munich Jewellery Week - all designed in the same way. We imagine these street signs placed outside exhibition spaces, inviting people in and creating a buzz in the city: the more of these signs people will see in the city, the more of an impact Munich Jewellery Week will create. All street signs will look the same, but each will have a unique number, corresponding to the map inside the PAPER. So, if you are planning an exhibition or any other event during Munich Jewellery Week, please fill in the participant's form below. We know that each event is special and requires a different approach, so we would like to offer you a simple selection of three campaigns to choose from: BASIC CAMPAIGN - similarly to last year, this option will guarantee a space for your event in CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER: The location of your event will be marked with a number on the city map of Munich, accompanied by a statement/description based on the information you submit in the participants form below. The total amount for administration and production costs of Basic Campaign is €20. ADVANCED CAMPAIGN - by choosing this option you will receive all of the things mentioned above in the Basic Campaign + you will be provided with a Munich Jewellery Week street sign with the unique number of your event, corresponding to the map inside CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER. We would like to encourage as many people as possible to choose this option, so together we can create a buzz around Munich! We need at least 10 people to opt for this campaign. If less then 10 people opt for this campaign, production costs of the street signs will be too high and we will not be able to execute it. In this case, those of you who opted for campaign will get their money back [you will be charged €20 for the Basic Campaign and will receive back the remaining €40] The total amount for administration and production costs of Advanced Campaign is €60. EXPERT CAMPAIGN - by choosing this option you will receive all of the things mentioned above in both Basic and Advanced campaigns + expanded information about event will be published on CURRENT OBSESSION website + Munich Jewellery Week website & social media. The total amount for administration and production costs of Expert Campaign is €100. Please, fill in this form with attention to detail. If the information you submitted changes, or you have any additional information, please email us to: paper@current-obsession.com with the title of your event as the subject line. After filling in this form you will be forwarded to a payment page and required to submit the payment for administration and production costs according to the campaign option you have selected. PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover are accepted. If you choose not to register you event at all, it will still be mentioned in the PAPER, but without an image and accompanied only by the essential information: address, opening time, opening dates. DEADLINE 15th of JANUARY 2015 Please note: These images are illustrative sketches. Fill out my Wufoo form!

“Okay I do make mistakes, but I’m the realest from the fake.” Quote from Missy Elliott’s “Baby Girl Interlude/Intro”, written by M. Elliott and T. Mosley for her studio album This is Not a Test! (2003) This limited edition tote bag was made especially for The Fake Issue, hand-printed silkscreen by visual artist Isfrid Angard Siljehaug in five different gradients pink-orange-green-blue-purple. ORDER ONLINE Isfrid Angard Siljehaug is a visual artist that lives and works in Amsterdam. She works in writing, drawing and textiles. In 2012 she started the enterprise, Isis business, for her fashion and textile designs. You can see more at www.isfrid.com

Current Obsession's latest cover was boasting (o)doodem - collaboration project between Amsterdam-based visual artist Boris de Beijer and The Hague-based photographer Lonneke van der Palen. This coming Friday, 12th of December both will be showing their latest work at Current Obsession Fake Christmas Show! alongside other young artists - Linda Beumer, Charlotte Van de Velde, Conversation Piece: Nicolas Cheng & Beatrice Brovia, Céline Manz & Xavier Fernandez Fuentes. Current Obsession teamed up with Subbacultcha! - independent music and culture platform to host this exhibition slash celebration. In anticipation of this festive event we've stopped by Boris' studio in Amsterdam's city centre to ask him some questions about his latest work. CO: You've graduated in Jewellery Design and your first body of work was a collection of jewellery. Since then you've moved on to sculpture and installation. What are the aspects of these disciplines you find exciting? BdB: Some of my first works were indeed wearable, but somehow they were never really meant to purely adorn a human being. I always divided my smaller works in groups as if they belonged to a family. Within those families a certain hierarchy becomes visible, like you often see with objects being displayed in natural historic museums worldwide. Objects there in the large vitrines and cabinets are being ranked by how they are being presented and in what order. I like this conscious classification because it creates tension between individual objects and often it seems to be done for reasons unknown to the observer. For me, my jewellery pieces always have been a part of a larger unity. And only as families, displayed as a part of an installation, they were able to communicate to the audience. So, in fact, I always have been making installations. However it is relatively new to me to work on a much larger scale. The works as individuals have become increasingly larger over the last 2 years and their autonomy more present and explicit. Also the space that surrounds them, and how to adjust, interfere and use it, started to take on an substantial role and influence my practice more and more. I guess this is exactly what I find most interesting in the disciplines of sculpture and installation - the ability to influence the space according to an idea or vision and work free of functionality. CO: Do you still see your work on the border between disciplines? And if so, do you feel comfortable there? BdB: Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. For my presentation during Unfair Amsterdam I made very specific choices on the topic of disciplines that were crucial to the character of the presentation. Now for Current Obsession Im working in different disciplines. I made painting-like wall pieces, necklaces, and an installation existing of wearable ropes. I feel most comfortable manoeuvring freely in-between the disciplines. This limited edition jewellery will be soon available on CO webshop. CO: Recently your latest work was Lord or Lords was presented during Unfair Amsterdam. Can you talk about the ideas behind it? BdB: The title ‘Lord’ according to Wikipedia: Lord is traditionally an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler. ‘Lord of the Lord’ is referring to a higher power which by the title itself is exaggerating and ridiculing itself. I used the space to create an altar-like place in which I positioned 3 large wall pieces surrounded by objects such a fruits, laying loosely around on the floor. Two of the wall pieces were made from resin casted tiles that displayed an almost prefect symmetric pattern. The wall pieces were shaped like a rhombus, but cut in two so they also showed the shape of a delta fighter-jet. The other wall piece resembled an upside down diamond shape, which was also made from casted resin but included inscriptions on its surface. The kind of inscriptions that remind of the ones teenagers make on their school bench or toilet door. These inscriptions were sometimes clearly recognisable as man-made, yet sometimes they seem to be from an other origin. This constellation of objects, by means of its placement reminds strongly of traditional presentation methods used in the arts from an early stage. Especially within the traditional discipline of painting. However the use of material, craftsmanship, symbolism and domestic versus aggressive quality of the objects suggests something entirely different. On the one hand i used craftsmanship and tradition to emphasise and criticise certain tendencies, trends and in our cultural climate today. On the other hand I used both fictional as well as existing symbolism to put the viewer on an entirely different track. ‘Lord of the Lord’ embodied two extremes, I guess, one is questioning the relevance of craft and tradition in art, today, the other is of a satirical and enigmatic nature. It's also not my intention to fill in all the symbolic indications as some of them are for the beholder to give meaning to. CO: In the joint project with CO you've produced a photographic series in collaboration with Lonneke van der Palen for the editorial inside the magazine, as well as series of limited edition jewellery. Can you tell a bit more about the project? BdB: I liked the idea of working on a series of wearable pieces since I haven’t been doing that for a while. I have been working more often with Lonneke and it has always a been a great experience. For this editorial I invited Lonneke to take care not only of the photography, but to really get involved in the actual making and thinking process behind the pieces. And so we worked together in the early developmental stage and got our hands dirty. The actual outcome of the pieces is partly based on the things I've worked on with Lonneke, but over time they also changed a lot and got influenced by other projects. The works that are on display during the upcoming exhibition at Subbacultcha wil be a mixture of things all originating from different stages in time. This limited edition jewellery will be soon available on CO webshop. See more of Boris' work here

As our #3 Fake Issue was developing, we started to wonder who to collaborate with for the recurring Piece By Piece project. [Piece By Piece is a limited edition of jewellery/objects commissioned to an artist or a designer and featured in CO magazine. These collections are sold through our webshop.] Keeping the subject of fake in mind, we decided to purchase cheap knockoff jewellery on the street markets of Istanbul and Bangkok. The kind of jewellery that's sold by weight and is outrageously glitzy and sparkly, you know. Upon our return from travels we called up Boris de Beijer - visual artist and jeweller based in Amsterdam. We like his aggressive style of mixing resins, pigments and mixed media and creating abstract occult shapes with slick geometric aesthetics. Boris liked the idea of collaborating with us, so we met up in Amsterdam and gave him a bag full of fake jewellery. We had hoped to see it back - reborn and upgraded, but somehow in its original form, but Boris decided to do otherwise: He disassembled the glitzy brooches and rings, stripping them from the glass crystals and stuck the jewellery bulk in the blender. Yes, blender. The beautiful crushed mess then became a base for his Piece By Piece collection. He ended up creating two distinct series: one is a simple and colourful collection of airbrushed gradient rope necklaces [€30 on our webshop] and the other - consisting of a gradient airbrushed rope necklace and a mixed media hanger [€75 on our webshop]. ORDER ONLINE

Exhibition overview Work by Boris de Beijer Work by Charlotte Van de Velde Work by Boris de Beijer Work by Linda Beumer Work by Conversation Piece: Beatrice Brovia & Nicolas Cheng Work by Conversation Piece: Beatrice Brovia & Nicolas Cheng Work by Lonneke van der Palen, Céline Manz & Xavier Fernandez Fuentes Work by Lonneke van der Palen Work by Charlotte Van de Velde and Linda Beumer Exhibition overview

Yes yes, it's that time of the year! We are looking for motivated interns for 2015 and it's shaping up to be a fantastic year to join our team! Right now there are a lot of things in the pipeline: launching the #2 edition of CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER in Munich in March, creating and implementing a new identity for Munich Jewellery Week, curating the program for Shmucksymposium Zimmerhof in June, launching new website, #4 issue of CURRENT OBSESSION MAGAZINE... and much-much more! We are looking for skilled and capable individuals studying or experienced in either graphic design, writing/editing or marketing and PR. Good level of English is required. The duration of the internship is negotiable and normally starts at 3 months. If you are interested, please, send us your CV and a motivation letter at: magazine@current-obsession.com and we will get back to you as soon as we get a chance! Keep in mind that CURRENT OBSESSION TEAM is scattered between Antwerp, Amsterdam and Eindhoven. We hope to hear from you soon! Best, CO

What happens when we come across something that doesn't fit into our conception of the existing world? We come up with a new category for it. Whether it's art, design or fashion we've grown used to amend and to append to the rules defined by the world at large. Yet there seems to be no boundaries, rules or limits for the revolutionary multimaker Bart Hess (NL, 1984). Like a terrifying movie about the apocalyptic landscape of humankind, Hess confronts us with ourphysical and even imaginative limitations by producing images that barely adhere to our general sensitivity. Using his unique sense of wonder he always stays one step ahead of categorization. What appears to be the only constant in his ever-changing and transformative work is his obsession with a human body. Only the inexhaustible desire to simply touch the fabric of the future shows that mankind still bears something of its juvenile excitement. Current Obsession: In one of the interviews you talked about an intuitive impulse to put a material onto human skin, even if it doesn't belong there, e.g. flooring material, to create tension between the two. What does this tension mean to you? Why is this tension important? It seems like a great way to talk about contemporary jewellery, even though you have little to do with it. Bart Hess: Combining a material and a human body is a 'red thread' running through my work. For me it's about creating a tension between the two almost as if they fuse, but they never totally do. The physical reaction when doing so is of great importance for me. Not only for a model during a shoot, but even more so for the audience. Showing the skin and how it reacts to, for example, the weight of the material, adds to the experience I want to convey. It's about the subtle details that make the audience imagine experiencing the materials without physically doing so. It has an uncanny feel to it, maybe fetishist, some say, while I look for the boundaries of both the body and the material. CO: What is your first memory of the future? When do you remember the first time thinking about the future? BH: I remember as a kid being on holidays and wanting to be Superwoman. That's no longer the case. The future has become something more abstract to me. I use it as a motivation while feeling stuck in my work or when I'm on an airplane, which I hate. It's a way of visualizing a future me that guides me in life. CO: For Lisbon Architecture Triennale you have worked on a new human from the apocalyptic future. Who is he? BH: For the Lisbon Architecture Triennale I'm working on my new project called Digital Artefacts. The exhibition I'm a part of, Future Perftct, brings together an ensemble of scientists, technologists, designers, futurists and science fiction authors to collectively develop the props, spaces, cultures, machines and narratives of their own brave new future city. In Digital Artefacts I combine installation, performance and video to envision the human body in this future city. The term 'digital artifact' is used to describe defects in digital image quality. The most common example of this is the quality change of digital imagery within the use of compression. When I work with several different effects in video software, suddenly the most extreme forms with bizarre colour patterns can occur. These forms usually appear within a fraction of a second and are a direct occurrence of my actions in the physical world. It is this boundary between the psychical and digital world that I search for in my work. T he digital world gives me a new view of the reality, one that is boundary-free, fluid, neither material nor immaterial. I find ways to translate coming from me: I think at the end of the day people want to shut off all of these external influences, take off their clothes and just be naked. CO: What are the tools and means of the future? Elaborate on your vision of fusion between the human body, animalistic elements and technology. BH: I think a big part of the future is translating and making the digital physical. There is this fear of the digital and its role in the future. Children swiping over a book like it's an iPad losing their senses. I rather look at it from a different point of view where we bring a sense of romance back to technology. I took a similar approach in my collection A Hunt for High Tech. The ancient idea of going on a hunt, but with a twist. I imagined animals that could be genetically manipulated - part robot, part biological organism. I imagined how they would move in their environment and what they would feel like to touch. I thought about tactile qualities like the direction of hair growth with its dimensionality and the reflective qualities of scales. T he end result is a high-tech fantasy in which the forms suggest that they were not made by hand but were grown in a lab or originated from an alien creature. CO: What is/was your biggest investment in the future? BH:Keep defying genres and disciplines. Even though my work gets branded as either fashion, art or design I'm personally not too aware of this while I'm creating. My work circles around materials and I use different mediums to enhance the qualities and characters of these materials. Within this process I won't restrain myself to a discipline, the work will choose and create it for me. This article was first published in the #2 The Youth Issue of Current Obsession Magazine, AW2013.

How Soon Is Now Interview by Mariah Tuttle and Kamal Nassif How long does it take emerging jewellers to navigate looming questions of studio practice, lifestyle and finances once out of their respective academies? How long does it take to feel like they are establishing themselves within the field of contemporary jewellery? How long until that elusive future materializes into the now? Edgar Mosa. Photography by Aaron Boldt. Wait and see. That is often the perspective towards the futures of fresh graduates. Some people receive immediate, strong and positive feedback towards their aesthetic, technique or craftsmanship. Others may hibernate and blossom slowly. More than a few disappear. Mariah Tuttle and Kamal Nassif talk with artists Melanie Bilenker, Arthur Hash, Märta Mattsson, Edgar Mosa and Shari Pierce about their journeys, their current work and the lessons along the way. Melanie Bilenker. Pinning, Gather, Brooch, 2013, hair, paper, gold, mineral crystal. 3 x 4.7 x .7 cm Melanie Bilenker Melanie Bilenker received her BFA a little over ten years ago and has established herself as a contemporary jeweller with a long resume of exhibitions and museum collections as well as being named one of the Forty Under Forty by the Smithsonian Institute of Craft. Her work is a mix of technical ingenuity tempered by a profoundly intimate conceptualisation of ordinary moments of life with 'drawings' made from resin, gold, silver and the artist's own hair. MB:"Immediately following school, I applied to every 'call for entry' that suited me, which led to my first solo shows and subsequent representation with Sienna Gallery, in Massachusetts and Galerie Ra, in Amsterdam. During this entire time I have also been working for jeweller Gabriella Kiss, which gives me a variable but steady income. The look of my work has changed; it is more two-dimensional and image based now. While the techniques are entirely different, I still use materials with history (a former life) and fragmented narrative to convey a sense of a larger whole. I work in a time consuming and somewhat tedious way and sometimes consider this a detriment. But, I have realized that a focused, calculated evolution is part of my process and is evident in the completed work. Currently, I am in the research phase for a new series inspired by WWII era novelty cards in which a nude was revealed by slipping a sliver of paper between layers of a transparent drawing. I am working on pieces containing layered drawings with an intimate element to be revealed." Melanie Bilenker. Photography by the artist Arthur Hash Arthur Hash has a diverse identity as a maker, educator and blog writer who examines and discusses the small moments of object making through the industrial lens of contemporary craft jewellery. He is committed to the exploration of what jewellery is and can be, retaining the sense of elegance and beauty found in the long tradition of body adornment while incorporating industrial technologies such as waterjet cutting, 3D scanning, CNC routing and rapid prototyping to make one-off art jewellery pieces. AH:"Truthfully I dabbled with using the computer in my work in grad school but didn't use it in earnest until after I finished my MFA (from Indiana University, Bloomington in 2005). Currently, I am working on a number of pieces that involve the reduction of 3D digital surfaces to simple, faceted planes. Similar to how a digital image can be pixelated, a 3D object can be reduced to a faceted version of itself. A ring or a bracelet is really just a torus, but when simplified can be a beautiful 'crystal-like' object. I remember struggling with getting into shows in grad school; I got a lot of rejection letters. I was lucky that I had good fri ends who introduced me to galleries right out of school and I instantly started to develop a healthy relationship with two in particular (Velvet da Vinci in San Francisco and Sienna Gallery in Massachusetts). The entire process of talking with them about my work and how interested they were in what I was doing motivated me. The more I made the more people would get to wear the work, which was the ultimate goal. I have led kind of a charmed life where my progression went from not being able to get into shows, to getting into shows, to getting solo shows, to ultimately curating shows and now ... too busy to commit to shows. Working for a university, I see a range of students come through our program. While we do our best to help students take the next step (residencies, employment etc), sometimes it is hard to properly prepare them for what is on the horizon. When the loan money is gone and their peers have moved away, students often find themselves in a new world of taxes, insurance and no studio." Arthur Hash. Optibrooch, 2012, sterling silver, enamel copper and stainless steel Märta Mattsson Märta Mattsson has not stopped working in the three years since graduating from the Royal College of Art. Her pace has made her work and aesthetic known through solo shows, classes and lectures around the world. Mattsson's work is based on the tension that exists between attraction and repulsion. Utilizing materials from nature that often disgust or repulse, she translates her fantasies into ornament and invites people to mar vel over their oddities. MM: "Initially, I started to work with insects and skin from animals because I was uncomfortable with both looking at and handling those materials. A couple of months ago I started to explore and work on some new pieces where I used wings from butterflies, cicadas and moths. The ideas of mimicry, and transforming the wings to look like new species of animal appeals to me. By assembling and building new bodies, I can create mysterious creatures that use the aesthetic qualities of the wings without making them too pretty. In my work in general I use dead creatures to evoke wonder. During my jewellery studies I attended schools in Sweden, England, USA and Japan and learned to be quite independent and adapt to new environments. Some might say it can be confusing to study under so many different professors, but for me it was great. I moved back to Stockholm two weeks after graduating from the Royal College of Art. I had upcoming exhibitions with short deadlines, so I worked very hard on getting a studio up and running as fast as I could. I think because of the fact that I had things to work for straight away, I have not felt a major change in the way I work. To be honest, I did not really have time to miss school. I had been dreaming for so many years about getting these kinds of opportunities, so when they came along I was working my ass off trying to stay on top of things and keep clients/ galleries/ organizers happy. However, I think I was a bit too ' nice' and polite during my first year after college. I have learned that it is okay to demand certain things, and that it is okay to speak your mind, and to be clear about what you want. It's both nice and a little bit confusing to be working on different themes simultaneously, but most of the time I am up for the challenge. For example, I am currently working on: a project in Chemnitz, Germany working with petrified wood; making big sculptures for a fine art gallery; a project titled Eating art with gallery Platina in Stockholm; a group exhibition with the theme 'art nouveau'; making a commercial line for the design company Lifestylebazaar; creating new pieces for a solo exhibition at Putti gallery in Riga; as well as a project with jeweller Tanel Veenre." Märta Mattsson. Split, 2013, Necklace, copper electroformed beetle, driftwood, silver, cubic zirkonias, resin, lacquer, 35 x 20 x 6 cm Edgar Mosa Edgar Mosa earned his BA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in the Netherlands and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in the United States culminating in work that both flirts with costume jewellery and its lexicon as well as engages with the quiet moments of object intuition. His work is grounded in method and material, while exploring temporal symbolism, his environment and fashion. EM:"Right after graduation I got sucked into a two-year lethargy, with an almost nonexistent working practice, while trying to make a sense of living in New York City. For a number of months, I kept on repeating processes and techniques that I felt encouraged by and successful about during my studies. I needed that feeling of goodness, of continuing to do something worthy, something successful, something, hmmm ... safe. I was like an artist copying another artist's work, even if it was my own work I was copying! It wasn't at all an empowering feeling, more like a very strange egocentric kind of pastiche. It is curious that, now, the busier I am, the more I produce. I am a production jeweller for a fine jewellery company based in Chelsea; I am a goldsmith for an antiques gallery in Soho; and I teach jewellery at two schools in the city. I have been a shape-shifter since I got here having assisted the most diverse makers like leather and lighting designers, mural painters, art gallerists, art fair organizers and so on. I keep a very effervescent outside(r) practice." M+K: You seem to be at a point where you need to invite all your different aesthetics and muses to the same table for a drunken conversation. What do you think that takes? (Besides a good tequila) Obsession Where does that push come from? How do you approach both cultivating your creativity while trying to refine it? EM:"Hmm, well, let me grab a glass first! I don't care much for jewellery. I care for jewels and what emotions they can convey, absorb, or shoot right at you. I don't care for a studio practice, the solitude, the stillness, as much as I care for dialogues, relationships and the ability to establish a connection. My 'muses' are not aesthetic subjects, they are friends, loved and regarded as part of my life. They make part of, and live with, the work. 'My work' is not mine alone; it only exists due to the contribution, assistance, collaboration and motivation of many people. I have many to thank. I have gotten to a point where my work has become my hobby. I have no shame or judgments over this matter. In fact, it allows me an immense freedom. I can do whatever and take the work in whichever direction I see fit. There's not enough self in my work, I think sometimes. You see, my points of contact and reference are not in my own control; they become who I am, by living, bumping into others, into the world. The range of the work that I do -production, academic work, teaching, collaborating, organizing- is a way to avoid having a self by moving from one 'person' to another. But I hope that, on the way, I link them and show my aesthetic and the nature of my mind. In the end, how easy it would have been to respond by saying that my work aspires to be that tequila bottle on the table. It is but a means of linkage and a creativity booster among all of us who toast with it." Edgar Mosa. Photography by Aaron Boldt. Shari Pierce Shari Pierce is an American artist with a BA in Fine Arts from East Carolina University who moved to Germany over a decade ago and attended the Munich Academy. Shari works with jewellery as one of a variety of mediums to make pieces and exhibitions that address contemporary feminism while questioning societal standards for gender normatively. SP:"I had a very long artistic education, four years (1994-1999) in the US and six years (2001-2007) at the Munich Academy in Germany. Thinking back to when I was finally finished, the first project that I did was SheLL Project which had nothing to do with contemporary jewellery. It was not a conscious change, but one thing led to another and it seemed like the right time to pursue my ideas in other mediums. There was definitely a new sense of freedom that I could continue to develop myself as an artist working in any medium that I felt appropriate without the approval or expectations of an institution, mentors or my peers. Since then, I have tried to not limit myself but work with whichever medium or material I feel is best suited for the expression of my concept and the development of my work. The Munich Academy is quite independent and you work on your own development, so I did not experience this emergence after I finished my education but during. For me there is really no in and out of school- I am constantly learning and sometimes not always gracefully. One must struggle to grow and develop regardless. For me this is very important, but that is only my perception and way of working. For each artist it is different and that is why it can be difficult. There is no secret formula. It really is a constant process." M+K: As an artist who blurs boundaries, mediums and exhibition techniques, how do you think more emerging jewellers can break through some of the trends and associations to traditional jewellery (even if that tradition is to, in fact, be different')? SP: "In general I would say get off your ass and approach your work with intensity and passion. Think critically; use your imagination, BE CREATIVE. I have been invited to mentor students with their work and I always tell them that if you do not have enthusiasm and drive to say something different, challenge yourself/ your field, and take responsibility for yourself and your work, then you should get a job as a banker (for example) because your life will be much easier and you will have much more money. Being an artist is a hard job and no one will care if you wake up in the morning and make something or not: NO ONE. So you better put some fire under your ass and develop passion for what you want to communicate regardless of what that is. Everyday we have to conform- pay bills, earn money, follow rules. Why the hell would I want to do that as an artist when it is the one area where I define the rules? So, define your own rules. Look at what has been done in the past and how you can you expand your field and yourself through the work. Make trends do not follow them, and be prepared for a lot of criticism in the process. It is that easy." Shari Pierce. He Loves Me He Loves Me Not (Installation), 2013, Bed Sheet (object), Necklace-Mandarin Peels, Honey (Frame on Necklace), Fabric from bed sheet. FAILURE and SUCCESS can be INTERESTING TEACHERS MARTA: One thing I have learned is to edit what I send away for exhibitions or post online. In my first year after graduating I was working on tight deadlines and sent away some pieces that I was not completely happy and certain about. Other people might not have even noticed that the piece was a 'failure', but I have learned that it is better to edit a collection down to fewer pieces sometimes. People might see me as a bug jeweller because that is the work that people have seen the most, but I see myself more as an explorer of my fascinations and feelings towards disgust. It can be hard sometimes to be known for a certain material or technique, you can feel a little bit restricted. I feel that during the last year I have received the most criticism, as well as the most praise, for my work ever in my life. I got a lot of really nice and interesting comments and remarks from collectors, makers and friend s, but I also received a lot of criticism about being overexposed as well as people telling me that they are waiting for my next collection. Some of the criticism has really helped me and pushed me forward, but many of the comments about 'waiting for my next big thing' have been quite hard to tackle. Since I don't jump between different subjects, the changes in my work may appear quite subtle. In general criticism helps me become stronger as a maker and challenges my brain, but of course some criticism is constructive and helpful, and some just stings a little. My personal definition of success would be that I get invited to participate in very interesting projects and exhibitions, I never take anything for granted and I am really grateful and humble to the fact that I can keep doing what I do. ARTHUR: It is VERY hard to get a full time job doing what you love. I struggled and still struggle to find where I fit. On one hand I have a successful professional career and on the other a great job. I really never thought that I would have a li fe in academia. When you are in school you can't wait to get out, but if you teach it is almost like you never leave. Few can be successful artists and successful educators. I am not saying working in academia is failing, but it always causes you to question your decisions. You almost have to be part politician, part psychologist, part accountant, part advisor, part educator and lastly part artist. That's a lot of parts. Also where does your own personal life fit into all of this? When is there time for you to develop personal relationships or take vacations? It is not easy. For me there are two levels of success. Completing a piece can be incredibly bittersweet. Spending intimate time with a small piece of jewellery for weeks, living almost microscopically is kind of unhealthy. When the work leaves the studio and it is ultimately worn, only then I can say it is successful. The second type of success is when you realize that what you envisioned yourself being is what you are now. What I mean is that my goal fifteen years ago of becoming someone that could participate in the field is actually a reality. I am successful in the sense that I have a job working in my field, I am surrounded by makers, I have a great studio, a wonderful wife and the ability and drive to continue to make. In many ways I have accomplished what I set out to do. I have been very lucky but I have also worked very hard to get where I am. EDGAR: Success- is when someone contacts me regarding 'the work' or to meet my acquaintance. It means I have called and the call was answered. It means a connection has been established. The truth is that I still question the meaning of everything so very passionately, wanting to see things executed, even when I am over-layering the cake. And conversely I think I have not been honest and fail by over-editing, and hiding from the public all that I do. I seem to have been labeled as a wood jewellery maker and so that is what I have been catering to: a still wooden mask to hide all the anxiety that goes on behind stage. I hope I can start being more confident in the work that I do despite the fact that it never gets to see the light of day. Even though my work denies function and figuration , I have plastic cast cherubs and a clothing line hiding in my studio. I just don't quite know what to make of it. MELANIE: Every truly ugly, awkward, unsuccessful piece I have made is in a drawer in my studio. Sometimes I'll take them out to remember that it's necessary to try something new. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it will stay hidden in that drawer. Success is making work that drives you forward towards that next piece. There must be derailments in the process and questions left at the end. If all is fully resolved there is no need to continue. Gaining recognition for a specific type of work or aspect of your work can make you feel superficially successful, but internally divided. If you are ready to move beyond other people's definition of your work, or disagree with it, this feedback can be a valuable critique and the proper propellant for the next step. SHARI: I fail all the time. Every new work has the potential for failure. I don't think that you can grow and change without risk, and with risk there is always the chance of failure. It is really all relative to what you want and expect from yourself, and in the end the expression and commitment to your work decides. I do not let other people define me. Personally I fight against this. I am very happy that I receive a lot of positive feedback from people about my work being very inspiring or that they understand what I am trying to communicate. I do need this - it is important. But sometimes people are disappointed with what I do, or they like this and not that. I have to choose my direction consciously. When I can no longer create a body of work with enthusiasm or feel that I have said all I can say then it is finished. The worst thing is to be a bad copy of yourself. Sometimes success is waking up in the morning and having the strength to push through when I feel like a total failure; the email I receive saying my work has touched a person at a very deep level; the students who tell me they studied jewellery because of me or remember advice I gave them 5 years ago and thank me later; winning a prize or getting an amazing exhibition space for a solo show. Again it's all relative- every day it is changing. M+K: Graduate school is often described as a time of growth for makers in which we can selfishly (or indulgently) explore our practice within a bubble of constant support and contact with our peers and professors. One of the things people miss the most (or have the hardest time doing without) in their first few years out of school is that sense of community. On a larger scale, there is a growing awareness of the global jewellery community and discussion on how to broaden and strengthen the dialogue between jewellers. What are your thoughts on the current contemporary community and support within the jewellery field? How has this changed or evolved since your first year(s) out of school? MELANIE: I never attended graduate school and tend to be a bit insular as a worker, so it was all the more important for me to keep up with a community after school. There are so many more vehicles for connectivity now. Though to be honest (and perhaps due to coming out of school at a time when only a few of us had websites), there is still nothing to replace an experience like attending Schmuck and meeting longtime jewellery idols, peers and students. SHARI: In general it is much easier to connect internationally and there is a lot more support for those that want to engage in a dialogue with others. Maybe I take this for granted because I live in a place with so many contemporary jewellers and I am fortunate to travel often and meet new people all of the time personally or through my work. EDGAR: I will never forget what Manon Van Kouswijk said on my last year of school: even if you would spend your whole life reading and learning about jewellery, you would never be able to fully grasp it as a whole. Being in NY has been interesting because contemporary jewellery is fairly nonexistent, and even when it does exist it is masked by a different hand of labor. It is fascinating dealing with diamond setters, bridal designers, CAD and laser people, renderers, wire wrapping and beading laborers, artists, critics, what have you. There are so many ways of speaking this language, and I think it's up to all of us to draw a line - of connection not dispersion - and make our own dialogue. MARTA: Many new jewellers are finding their own ways of creating opportunities for themselves and others by starting collaborateve projects- for example the Norwegian group KLINK and AS in Sweden. Personally I have had a lot of support from both new and old friends that I have met during the years I studied, as well as jewellers that I have met after graduating at workshops and conferences etc. I have also gotten a lot of support from former teachers of mine as well as the gallery owners that I work with. I feel that the field in general is quite supportive and warm. ARTHUR: Perspective is everything. I would like to be able to actually communicate more with jewellers outside of my immediate circle. I think that it could only help my work to understand how others feel about the field. Five years ago a lot of people found success just by being experts at marketing themselves with tools like Twitter and Facebook and now they are realising that keeping up with that sort of stuff is a full time gig and would rather be making in their studios. Younger artists are starting tO see how valuable gallerists can be. The older collector market is dwindling. Gallerists have a hard job of both educating new collectors and marketing younger artists that have yet to establish themselves. Often there is a strangle hold on organizations by older generation artists that are afraid of becoming left behind. They are alienating an entire generation. It is crucial to continue to educate not only the public but also the older generation on the perspective and process of what this new generation is. There is a HUGE contingency of unbelievable younger artists out there just waiting to be discovered. Mariah Tuttle (MFA 2011) and Kamal Nassif (BFA 2014) are Rhode Island School of Design alum and student team and the founders of risdjm.com. They are both nerds about music, vintage dresses, hot sauce, jewel(le)ry (obviously) and their new projects under the umbrella {x}collaborations. xcollaborations.com This article was first published in the #2 The Youth Issue of Current Obsession Magazine, AW2013.

Pre-Sales: #2 CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER In March 2015 Current Obsession will release the second edition of Current Obsession Paper. On 64 pages of content you'll find the complete guide to Munich Jewellery Week with a large city map + previews and images of each featured event, Must-See List, Studio Visits, interviews and photoshoots. One part of CO Paper's content focuses on Munich Jewellery Week. We are working on making MJW visible to as many people as possible, so we’ve developed a striking identity for it - a website, a series of yellow street signs, a logo and hashtags, which all connect back to the City Map we have been making for the past three years. Inside the Paper you will find more MJW-related content, like the Studio Visits with this year’s Schmuck artists, editorial photography with work by Talente nominees and the Must-See List of exhibitions highlighted by various contemporary jewellery bigwigs: Leo Caballero, Benjamin Lignel, Noon Passama and Marjan Unger. The other chunk of the content anticipates our new annual theme – Supernatural. Our structure has changed to a slower pace. This means we opted for a deeper investigation towards grinding out a single theme per year. Our goal is to bring the exploration process to the readers, give the spotlight to more voices, and see more angles of each theme via different projects. So in 2015 we will be obsessing over the Supernatural – the mysterious relationship between what we intuit, what we know, and what we contemplate. Read more about the subject in the Introduction to the Supernatural coming up in the following pages. Mixing up the content is our way to start a conversation about the Supernatural and invite you to contribute to the yearlong quest with your thoughts, words, and works. If you feel somehow connected to the subject, please, drop us a line at info@current-obsession.com Abracadabra and much love, CO Team #2 Current Obsession Paper cover. Pattern by Anna Hennerdal PRE-ORDER ONLINE INSIDE THE #2 CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER: • Studio Visits with Schmuck’15 selectees • Must-See List of MJW exhibitions selected by Marjan Unger, Benjamin Lignel, Leo Caballero, Noon Passama and CO editors Kellie Riggs and Marina Elenskaya • Talente’15 selectees in an editorial photoshoot by Trey Wright • Spell of the Rebels - editorial photoshoot by Matra Veludo and Patrícia Domingues • Q&A with Hanna Hedman • New work by Sofie Lachaert and Luc d’Hanis • Latest and upcoming projects of Ted Noten (Part 1) • Exciting news from Current Obsession + a big open call • and more! 'Spell Of The Rebels’, Photography by Marta Veludo. Work by Patrícia Domingues & Carmen Hauser Studio Visits Eyeballs’, Talente’15 Jewellery Nominees. Photography by Trey Wright FOLLOW THE YELLOW STREET SIGNS: Inside the Paper you will find the complete guide to Munich Jewellery Week with a large city map + previews and images of each featured event. Current Obsession supports Munich Jewellery Week by creating a bright memorable identity for it. We hope to attract as many people as possible, start a buzz in the city of Munich and in press. Keep an eye out for 35 bright yellow street signs spread out all over the city. Find more information on www.munichjewelleryweek.com and follow hashtags #mjw15 and #munichjewelleryweek on Social Media. COME DANCE WITH US: On the 12th of March we will throw a party to celebrate the new edition of Current Obsession Paper at Lost Weekend Book store and Café on Schellingstraße 3. We start at 21:00 and continue until 3:00. Hope to see you there! PARTNERS OF #2 CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER: Chrome Yellow Books - Beyond Fashion - Brooklyn Metal Works - JOYA - Klimt02 - Galerie Ra - Galerie Rob Koudijs - Maurer Zilioli, Contemporary Arts - Stedelijk Museum Den Bosch - Subbacultcha - Zimmerhof - WCC-BF

Looking for Michael #47 Artists: Kinga Huber, Orsolya Kecskés, Krisztina Stomfai, Fanni Vékony Location: Web up Media Kreuzplätzchen 6, Munich Opening 12.3.2015 16:00 12.03.2015 - 15.03.2015 Thu-Sun 11:00-18:00 We all look for something in our life... The right way, good decision, the ultimate answer - and sometimes Michael...The four Hungarian jewellery designers have their prospective objects of the search and used different methods of seeking. But at the very end they all get closer to Michael... Kinga Huber Her jewellery is figuratively and literally a tissue of dreams and reality, pillow tales weawed of metal. The important physical carrier of the creators' concept is the pillow, the wringed pillow tales by the good or bad dreams. Orsolya Kecskés All of the jewellery otherwise made of cheap materials secretly contain a valuable piece. In the process of finding the hardly noticeable parts one can think about the importance of the meaning of the real value. Krisztina Stomfai Playing with the letters of the word 'Michael' in her works includes not only the physical presence of the name but the secret meaning of the materials as well. The seeking is the mystery by itself, what is really behind a name? 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.' (Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet) Fanni Vékony Here is Michael standing in front of me. But who is he really? My search takes place in the inner world of the person. The revelation of the man's soul through the eye of a woman and seven doors. As Judith tried to know the Blubeard. www.looking-for-michael.blogspot.com

On Purpose #1b Schools: MAD Faculty Hasselt Belgium, Audi Pauwels + Lore Langdries/ Middlesex University London UK, Tim Carson/ University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf Germany, Herman Hermsen Students: Charlotte Gilissen, Konstanze Prechtl, April Dace, Hannelore Smout, Zoë Parry-Evans, Sarah Regensburger, Pia David, Emma Tratt, Anja Metzger, Moana Andreani, Auguste Sniokaite, Mia Maichen, Lara Ceuterick, Leah Orford, Nicole Waniowska, Gert-Jan Vandezande, Aelita Pliuskyte, Alessa Joosten Location: Messegelande, Halle B1 On Purpose is a collaborative project between three different Jewellery Schools from three different countries. On Purpose explores the world of jewellery and batch production. On Purpose asks how are ideas exchanged and collaborative work developed when the collaborators aren’t working in the same physical space. Teams of three students worked together, producing a piece of jewellery connected by a common theme. Zoë Parry-Evans, Theme: Same, same but different, Foam Party, Brass (antiquied,cast), foam, spray paint School: Middlesex University Konstanze Prechtl, Theme: Sharing, Share It, Nylon, Paint, Brass, NFC Tag School: University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf Gertjan Vandezande, Theme: Keep it simple, Earrings, Polyurethane, silver, steel School: Mad-Faculty Hasselt

Objection #56 Artists: Zoe Arnold, Inderjeet Sandhu & Laurie Schram, Mariko Sumioka Location: BCA Friday Gallery Frauenstrasse 18, Munich Opening 12.03.2015 17:00 12.03.2015 - 16.03.2015 Thu 17:00 – 20:00, Fri-Sat 11:00 - 20:00, Sun 11:00 - 18:00, Mon 11:00 - 14:00 Zoe Arnold, brooch Objection is a show by Zoe Arnold, Mariko Sumioka and duo SCHRAM & SANDHU. Works by these artists are in collections of Victoria and Albert Museum, The British Museum, Crafts Council, The Sir John Soane Museum and many private collections. Here they showcase works and projects challenging their the role and the position of making. Zoe Arnold is a poet, object maker and jeweller mostly known for her evocative and subtly macabre jewellery pieces, often presented in a context which houses the work in situ as an autonomous work of art to be displayed as an intriguing treasure within the domestic space. Arnold’s work draws from a complex inner world and allows the viewer a peak into the little things, the smaller moments of experience. Mariko Sumioka, hako necklace, oxidized silver, enamel on copper, bamboo, gold leaf, kuemboo, antique kimono Mariko Sumioka works with enamelling, architectural forms and collaging. The work is rooted in her research of Japanese culture and environments both natural and manmade, the study of zen and nature are important elements in this. Her jewellery loosely defines it’s function and gives space to the wearer to interpret the pieces and their relationship to them. SCHRAM & SANDHU by Laurie Schram and Inderjeet Sandhu, Bend Saw Bend brooch, gold-plated 30cm length brass rod, 3mm diameter. This is one of the 27 pieces made using the S&S Jewellery manufacturing rules. This particular piece 'Bend Saw Bend' is very representative of the projects idea because in terms of the dogma, it is perfect. The formula is followed perfectly, bent twice and sawn once, but the results are hard to place. It’s wearable, but only in as much that it is technically possible, the dogma has truly overruled any sense. To make it so explicit is an acknowledgement of a disturbing status quo within production. As a duo, Royal College of Art alumni Laurie Schram and Inderjeet Sandhu together focus mainly on the creation of artistic communication through branding and utopic/dystopic company visions. SCHRAM&SANDHU is concept driven and embraces both fine art and design in its practice with an emphasis on absurdity and the escalation of error. www.objectionschmuck.wordpress.com