REDEFINED
Brooches, Stick | aluminium, anodized in colour, 15 cm, 1982
The brooches are all made of an explicitly non-precious metal: aluminium wire. I produced several hundred of them, which were anodised in numerous colours and are both easy to wear and affordable. All attributes that defined the liberalization and popularization of jewellery in the early eighties.
At first sight, the ordinary “STICK” might look like a toothpick, a hairpin or a chopstick. But whether it is individually stitched or woven through the fabric, there is a symbiotic integration, and in the process, it is transformed into a brooch.
The 1982 “Jewellery Redefined” exhibition in London (also featuring these pieces) was a striking manifestation of a growing interest in alternative materials, explicitly excluding ‘precious’ metals.
