Indian goods receive 'below average' response at JCK show

In design terms, the show offered nothing new

Post By : Diamond World News Service On 04 June 2007 12:00 AM
Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but for a wow factor that’s a whole lot economical and a lot more cutting edge, look no further than Kath Libbert’s gallery in Salt’s Mill in Yorkshire. It’s here that collections from the UK and Europe have been brought together in a celebration of the creative talents of jewellery designers working with a wide range of textiles and other natural materials. The result is jewellery that’s best described as wearable art with a definite twist.
Lynse Walters is a textile designer based in Edinburgh. While a student at the Royal College of Art, she developed some unique felting techniques, which she applies to much of her collection. Giving traditional methods a modern look, and using natural materials like merino wool, linen and organza, Lynse creates wonderful tactile pieces using combinations of hand felting and embroidery.
Also working with felt is Karin Wagner, who hails from Switzerland. Since 1998, she has her own textile design label, designing pieces for television programs. Karin makes the felt from scratch and fashions it into jewellery so that the wool retains its softness and strength. Her merino felt flowers, some in pale yellow tinged with blue, are so natural looking you want to smell them. The trailing rose vine with its felt buds and blossoms can be worn as you wish, around the neck or wrist, or over the head.$$ Pressed paper is the medium favoured by Anna Hagopian from Barcelona. Anna’s vibrant necklaces are crafted from a mixture of pressed paper and brightly colored gauge in striking colors of lime green or fire engine red. On the other hand, Henriette and Martin Tomasi are a design duo from Munich, well known for their silver wire mesh brooches that uses a special technique they developed for felting metals such as gold, silver and steel.
In general, they create sumptuous, fanciful rings and bracelets from plush velvet, some in shades of soft lilac, grass green, and pale yellow using precious stones like tourmaline and peridot. The results are jewellery creations which are airy, but with a surprising stability and elasticity. $$ Finally, for something completely different, and much more down to earth Julie Arkell from London likes working with scraps of fabric, wool and paper that have been worn torn, used and read. Other finds such as old buttons, discovered fastenings, and lost feelings are combined in her enigmatic ‘dear friend’ brooches.$$ All in all, these types of stylish jewellery with its combination of the familiar and the unexpected, goes to show you can make a statement without breaking the bank.

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