Episodes
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Our bodily presence in the world is likely of ever greater interest to artists, designers and makers in our increasingly digitally navigated context. What it feels like to engage with the physical world and how this influences our understanding of it has been the subject of investigation in theories such as phenomenology dating back to the early 20th century. Of continued relevance today, as designers we ask ourselves what it feels like to wear jewellery, how does it respond or relate to the movements of our body, and can jewellery be in artistic dialogue with these motions, highlighting the human body and its interactions with the world? This approach can encourage us to create jewellery that resonates on a sensory and emotional level, making the experience of wearing the piece as significant as the piece itself. A jewellery artist who has been fascinated by these contemplations, and who has collaborated with choreographers, dancers, musicians, filmmakers and scientists to investigate, create and capture movement narratives, is John Moore. His work challenges traditional boundaries, positioning the wearer as an active participant in the jewellery’s expression. Join us to find out more about his work and what it means to design for movement.
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A lot of jewellery designers are no stranger to shifting between the digital and physical both for the creation of work and the communication of work. There are companies and researchers/practitioners that question and advance these practices, considering craft thinking in the context of digital experience and asking what it means to be human in an increasingly layered physical and digital world. Lynne Craig is an innnovation director, academic and founder of computational adornment. Her work, research and practice connects design, technology, education and business development; exploring the frontiers of emergent technologies and cultural change. To talk to me today about her work and what it means to be a digitally conscious maker/thinker today
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Missing episodes?
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Tiia Vahula and Philip Wilck, founders of Utopia Blu aim to embrace the boundless potential of human imagination, whilst striving for a future that is not only visually appealing but also sustainable and meaningful. Breaking disciplinary boundaries, the couple look to technology to enable creative innovations that strike the right balance between culture and nature. For this podcast episode we review how the self-proclaimed formalists have been nourishing an ability to envision sensitive possibilities, finding inspiration in nature whilst advocating for progress, by exploring emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality, to create transformative experiences that blend seamlessly with the physical world.
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Sustainable practice can be seen from a range of perspectives, including the idea of Urban Mining materials, rather than using virgin materials. What we choose as materials to work from has a big impact on our practice. A researcher who has taken the practice of urban mining one step further, and has been working in the Bio-Design field for quite some time is Marie Melcore. With her work she is keen to transcend disciplinary boundaries in order to address common sustainability issues and offer out of the box design and ideas proposals that can contribute to solving the big problems we face. In this episode she tells us more about her career, practice and the materials she’s been locating, questioning and transforming as part of her projects.
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When considering alternative approaches to materials and making, you may come across Bio-design, which can be understood as a means to incorporate the inherent life-conducive principles of biological living systems into the design and making process - and this in order to move towards a more sustainable and caring future. If we want to become more empathic towards our environment, so we can co-create, collaborate with non-humans whilst constructing and most importantly improving our context, wouldn’t it be important we gain an understanding of these living systems first? What does the world feel like to a tree? And can jewellery provide an ecological service to our environment? Someone who has asked themselves these very questions, and many more questions in relation to the topic of bio-design, is researcher, designer and artist Yuning Chen. Join us in this episode, where she tells us more about her career, practice and the materials she’s been investigating as part of her projects.
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Hidden behind a colourful facade on a small estate in South London, you can find a treasure trove of carefully reviewed, sorted and organised ‘waste’ materials. The Work and Play Scrapstore, and its team of passionate volunteers, enable artists, makers and anyone with any use for materials, to come and be inspired. From discarded famous costumes to offcuts of wood, textiles, plastics and much, much more, the Work and Play Scrapstore is a place where anyone with an interest in materials and making could spend hours exploring. Tune in to hear more about the concept of the store, the materials and objects it holds, and how anyone can engage with and support the cause.
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Gold, as we know it best, is not really a material that gets distributed fairly, or even gets worked on in cooperation. But there is archaeological evidence for spectacular goldwork in stateless societies providing compelling proof that complex technologies could be sustained in the absence of coercive powers. With cooperation being a key to tackling some of our greatest global concerns, and fair distribution of materials such as gold and access to luxurious objects an ethical ambition, this should pique our interest. This month we speak to a researcher who has been tracing our fascinating relationship with gold and other luxurious materials in various places and across segments of time. Professor Marcos Martinón-Torres is the Pitt-Rivers Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Cambridge and researches the archaeology of alchemy and metals, investigating different forms of craft organisation, knowledge transmission, innovation, and value systems. We speak to him about his research, and how looking back can maybe inspire moving forward.
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When thinking about materials and objects as a maker, it is important to consider the impact these materials and objects have. In a first instance that can involve considering the life cycle of materials, and constructing objects well so they are cared for and passed on rather than discarded. But what does it mean to create objects that get ‘passed on’? These objects could also be referred to as ‘kinship objects’. A thought that crossed my mind upon finding a small book that packs a punch titled ‘The Material Kinship Reader’ edited by Kris Dittel and Clementine Edwards. What role do materials and objects play in the organisation of social relationships? What does it mean to possess materials and objects? To discuss their work and ponder these interesting and necessary topics, we will delve into the world of artist Clementine Edwards.
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In a world full of objects, and as makers of objects, the agency of objects and materials is fascinating. Why do certain objects become valuable to us, and others not? Today sustainable making is a key consideration, and waste poses a real sustainability challenge. Are there opportunities in waste? Can we re-consider waste sensitively, incorporating it into our practices as tools, materials and actors?
A maker who has been fascinated with the temporality of materials is Katy Gillam-hull. A maker of objects and jewellery who reflects upon found and archival materials and objects and their capacity for encounter and for accumulating narrative through time. In this episode we talk about her views on waste, ponder materials and their stories, and delve into her practice, where waste is not wasted.
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When recycling silver and gold seems evident and has been around for decades, how can the practice be applied to other materials, what organisations and which individuals are already facilitating or exploring this approach, and what could we as artists, makers and designers change as part of our practices in order to become, and more importantly think like ‘Urban Miners’ re-valuing waste materials, critically reflecting on appropriation and being mindful of the longevity of our own work. In history, perhaps through necessity, re-use was common, and archaeologists have found many examples of ‘Urban Mining’ in history. As reflecting on the past can be insightful, Sofie is joined by archaeologist Dr Carlotta Gardner who has been investigating a range of archaeological materials including ceramics, metals, glass, and waste materials associated with these respective industries. They talk about her fascination for the subject, her career to date and her thoughts on Urban Mining.
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Our senses are the filters to our universe. Jewellery, unlike other artforms, is often worn on the body, engaging most of our senses. Some jewellery designers explore the edges of our sensory exploration of the world, questioning what it is we can and cannot see, or feel - or enabling a beauty to be sensed only in certain conditions. A jewellery designer who aims to explore how the multi-sensory experience of wearing and viewing jewellery can be changed with the enhancement of light as an interactive medium is Wanshu Li. In this podcast episode we discuss how her work attempts to challenge the traditional way that people wear and interact with jewellery by exploring the relationship between materiality and sensory experiences, using traditional and digital techniques.
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When we think about jewellery, we think it generally is worn on the body. Can jewellery or adornment be created for non-human contexts? Jewellery artist and researcher Liesbet Bussche has been challenging scale, materials and perceptions. Her large city objects are clearly inspired by jewellery and aim to adorn the city. In this episode, we discuss the scale of jewellery and what it is like to work multidisciplinary. We discuss her fascination for the city and the archetypical form of jewellery, and how changing contexts can change perspectives.
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When we look at the profession of jewellery, we often review pieces of jewellery from the past to gain an insight into the application of techniques, the reasons jewellery pieces were commissioned and worn, and gain insights into trends and changes in style. Museums such as the V&A provide us with an opportunity to look at some of the most interesting pieces of jewellery in European history. To discuss what it is like to trace the stories of these jewellery pieces, I speak to the BAJ Associate Lecturer in Critical and Historical Studies, and previously curator at the V&A for 20 years, Rachel Church. Join us in a conversation about weird and wonderful jewellery stories, what it is like to work as a curator and much more.
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To mark the 50th Episode of the BAJ Podcast, Sofie is joined by fellow Podcaster, broadcaster, author and editor Carol Woolton. In this episode, Carol as Co-Host, will find out a little more about the Sofie's research, fascination with jewellery and the ideas behind the BAJ podcast. They will discuss what topics they feel are important for the industry to engage with and what their plans are for both of their podcasts.
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When we speak about the digital world, we use words such as the cloud for data storage, and the metaverse for a virtual reality. But as Dr. Patricia Domingues aptly points out with her research and work, the very real physical realities to enable the use of digital tools, requiring increasingly more data, is very much 'real'. A research fellow at the Jewellery-Linking Bodies Department in the Gerrit Rietveld Academy Patricia investigates how artificial intelligence, metaverse worlds and digital structures frame the way humans think while drastically reshaping the way landscapes are handled. In this episode, we discuss her jewellery practice to date and the research she is currently working on.
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In this episode, BAJ's Sofie Boons speaks with one of the voices behind the new BAJ BA Course, Hollie Paxton. We discuss her jewellery career to date, covering the work she does for TV big hits such as Netflix, the BBC and Apple TV, her personal collections, bespoke commissions and her vision for the course.
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In this episode, BAJ's Sofie Boons speaks with the co-founders of the 'Artificial Intelligems' collective, Anneleen Swillen and Greg Scheirlinckx to discuss their work and research, the benefits and dangers of AI and the tools currently available and how AI can be used in relation to jewellery. Listen in to find out more about machine learning in a creative context and ponder our increasingly digital future.
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In this episode, BAJ's Sofie Boons speaks with two members of the team behind the thought-provoking magazine 'Current Obsession'. With their magazine, and their first ever Jewellery Hub in the centre of Munich during Munich Jewellery Week, the team want to create a platform for jewellers to showcase broadly, discuss and most importantly re-connect following the Covid-19 Pandemic. Sofie speaks to them about their vision for the magazine and 'Current Obsession', the experience of taking centre stage in Munich Jewellery Week and what is next. If you did not have a chance to travel to Munich or catch up with the team at Current Obsession, listen in to a conversation recorded at the buzzing hub - it will be as if you are actually there!
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In this episode, Sofie speaks with the curator selected for the Schmuck 2023 showcase in Munich. Having been an artist for over 50 years, and as an educator and curator of various exhibitions, Caroline Broadhead has a finger on the pulse of contemporary jewellery. We will discuss her selection for the exhibition, the key themes currently fascinating and challenging jewellers and her career in the medium and beyond. For more than fifty years, Caroline has run her own practice exploring objects that come into contact with and interact with the body. Much of her work is jewellery, but it has also developed into larger scale work, exploring outer extents of the body as seen through light, shadows and reflections and movement. The work operates with a number of contexts, spanning jewellery, performance and art. Significant elements of her work have included collaborations with choreographers which build intimate and highly charged atmospheres in dance performances, and a number of which use historic buildings as both inspiration and location. She has lectured, taught and exhibited widely and her work is represented in many public collections worldwide. A recent book and exhibition at CODA Museum, Netherlands showcased work spanning four decades. Other acknowledgements include: Jerwood Prize for Applied Arts: Textiles, 1997; Textiles International Open, 2004, and The Goldsmiths Craft & Design Council Lifetime Achievement Award, 2017. Having retired as Course Leader, BA Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martins in 2018, she is now Professor Emerita there.
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