selected for TALENTE 2015 : Koen Jacobs

Koen Jacobs (selected for Talente) with his series “DESTROYED BEAUTY”

[Talente-Award presentation 2015 : 14 March 2015  16:30, Halle B1 Main stage of IHM (Internationalen Handwerksmesse Munich)]

Exploring the relationship between two worlds : the upper and underworld.

“For me these worlds are not necessarily black and white, good and bad or life and death.
It can also be the reverse, with the upper world being hell and the underworld heaven.”

Koen Jacobs was student at Alchimia in 2013, now is at Gerrit Rietveld Academy. During Alchimia Graduation work 2013, « Koen Jacobs, dutch and the only boy in class had moved to Alchimia from the very technical and traditional school of Schonhooven. His work is a sign of his transformation as a maker and he has shown great  courage and has challenged his assumptions without holding back throughout the year. »

“During the creative process I was experimenting how to express this relationship through two materials, ebony wood and resin and how to let them become one. I found the answer in the circle of creation and destruction”

Koen Jacobs – afbeelding-2 – ‘Blue Reborn nr.5 Brooch, 2013
8 x 5 x 4 cm, made from: Ebony Wood, resin, silver, steel.
(mythological relationship between the upper and underworld with the tree as a symbolic connection)

Koen Jacobs – afbeelding-2  – ‘Blue Reborn nr.5 Brooch, 2013 8 x 5 x 4 cm, made from: Ebony Wood, resin, silver, steel. BACK

Koen Jacobs 2013 – Blue Life Brooch, 2013 – 10 x 6 x 4 cm, made from: Ebony Wood, resin, silver, steel.

Koen Jacobs – ‘Big Blue Pendant’, 2013
60 x 10 x 7 cm, made from: Ebony Wood, resin, silver, black rope.
(mythological relationship between the upper and underworld with the tree as a symbolic connection)

Koen Jacobs 2013 – Destroyed Beauty – Pendant, 60 x 10 x 7 cm – Ebony wood, resin, silver, black robe

Koen Jacobs   – ‘Downfall’, 2013 – 44 x 12 x 10 cm, made from: Ebony Wood, resin, zinc-plated steel.
(mythological relationship between the upper and underworld with the tree as a symbolic connection)

selected for SCHMUCK 2015 : Yuki Sumiya

Yuki Sumiya (selected for Schmuck) with her “GARDEN ” series

Yuki Sumiya was student at Alchimia. Experimenting with the ideal relationship between man and nature.

« The ordinary and the extraordinary, existence and disappearance, permanence and transience, inside and outside, stillness and flow, visible and invisible…
My central theme is duality: focusing on the co-existence of two concepts, and then looking at the relationship between the two. Through my jewellery, I tyr to make the invisible visible. »

« I see this, in the synthesis of the natural and man-made in a beautiful garden,
where the gardeners have thinned out the cedar trees,
erected fences incorporating the original trees,
and also sown lawns interspersed with concrete surfaces,
the perfect balance that can be achieved between nature and human intervention moves me.
I want to ask, “How can we, man and nature, co-exist?””

 Yuki Sumiya – Garden Brooch oxidized silver sponge wire

In the ‘Garden’ series, I’m principally experimenting with the ideal relationship between man and nature. When I see this, for example in the synthesis of the natural and man-made in a beautiful garden, where the gardeners have thinned out the cedar trees, erected fences incorporating the original trees, and also sown lawns interspersed with concrete surfaces, the perfect balance that can be achieved between nature and human intervention moves me. I want to ask, “How can we, man and nature, co-exist?”
In the ‘Garden’ series, both the materials, silver and synthetic sponge, come originally from under the earth, since synthetic sponge is made from oil. When I use green sponge in my work, I use it to symbolize nature, but actually it is a man-made copy of nature.
This complex aspect of the combination of natural metal with synthetic sponge also raises the question of where the value lies in the piece.Yuki Sumiya – “GARDEN ” Brooch -oxidized silver, sponge

 

Yuki Sumiya – “GARDEN ” series

Yuki Sumiya:  « garden » brooch oxidized silver, sponge

Yuki Sumiya – Garden Brooch oxidized silver sponge wire

Yuki Sumiya – Garden Brooch – 18K gold plated silver sponge

Yuki Sumiya - Blue pool / Brooch -  18K gold plated silver iron acrylic sponge