Ooooh boy....I'm going to have fun with this project..

Sooooo, this morning we got a new brief, Sandra took us through it explaining the Research Project. We have to research into a jeweller/designer which has been picked out for us according to our own styles/interests, which lead up to a 10 minute presentation of the designer's work. We also have to design and make a piece which uses either a technique, material, inspiration or concept etc that they use. The line between using their work as inspiration and plagiarising their work shouldn't be crossed.
I had a feeling I would maybe get a designer who uses plastics, is inspired by organic forms, pattern, or texture..I was almost right, and I do like her work!
Zoe Robertson, is a contemporary jeweller who is interested in unusual materials, plastics, rubber and currently flocking are used to create her designs.
Bold, colourful, tactile and industrial yet sensual are all keywords to describing her work...however..
I did quite a lot of research this afternoon and found 2 videos of her giving a lecture about her work at Birmingham Institute of art and design, where she teaches as a lecturer on the jewellery and silversmith course.
Her earlier work as she describes, was inspired by a mixture of her love of creating, and her social life.. The market she aimed to sell her jewellery at before she started teaching was to the Rubber and PVC Fetish market! This was a big part of her life when she was younger, and having researched into fetish clothing companies and knowing that particular area of style, she noticed that nobody was doing jewellery in this line of fashion! So this is where her career took off....

Her work is quirky, very tactile looking, and a lot of fun.

Well, I'd never have guessed it from more recent designs...


Oh and I will post some of my final samples for the colour project up here but I haven't shipped them back to my flat yet.