The Art Nouveau Period (1880 to 1915 :) by Giselle

René Lalique, French, 1860 - 1945
Dragonfly woman corsage ornament, 1897 - 1898
gold, enamel, chrysoprase, moonstones, and diamonds, 23 x 26.5 (9 x 10 3/8)

ELLA NAPER 1886-1972 Lily-pad Hair Combs  Green-tinted horn, with moonstone dewdrops
Length: 9 cm Width: 6.8 cm
English. Circa 1906

Art Nouveau ("New Art") was one of the first departures from classical art and design, towards a new modernism and it took placefrom the 1880s until world War I . This avant-garde movement was centred in Western Europe and occurred in France during what was known as the "La Belle Epoque" period, or "beautiful era" of the late 19th and 20th centuries. In Germany the Art Nouveau movement was known as the " Jugendstil," or :"youth style" arts and crafts movement, in Spain the movement was called Modermismo and in Austria Sezessionstil. It was a reaction against the historical and academic emphasis of the19^th century although it did not survive World War I.

JUGENDSTIL
Buckle Silver Chalcedony
German, c.1900

Art Nouveau was not only a style but it was a thought of modern society and and the various production methods. It was an effort to define the significance and temperament of the work of art.

Artworks by Gustav Klimt and Aubrey Beardsley

Art Nouveau stressed hand crafting as divergent to mechanized form of production. This decorative art movement placed emphasis on the idea of functional art and encouraged making everyday items into artwork.



European Art Nouveau architecture

Art Nouveau was considered a “total style” as it influenced a broad spectrum of design: these included architecture, interior design, decorative arts, textiles, printing and illustration, lighting, painting,household silverware ,furniture, jewellery as well as a wide range of other visual arts.

The specific ornamental characteristics of Art Nouveau included organic figures, and curved , asymetrical, undulating lines, that were often taking the form of flower stalks and buds, insect wings, vine tendrils and other sinuous and delicate natural objects. Floral patterns and leaves were also widely used. Some of the floral motifs that were used were borrowed from English artist William Morris, founder of the “Art and Crafts Movement” of the late Victorian era. Other common themes included stylized, curvaceous and graceful images of women, sometimes depicted as mermaids, nymphs and fairies complete with long manes of twisting hair. . Animals and birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies also made an appearance in the movement's imagery and often these creatures were incorporated into jewellery pieces such as necklaces and brooches. The colours used were often bright and clearly defined.

 

 

Wallpaper and sketch by William Morris

What the designers of this period had in common was an interest in finding a new artistic vocabulary that could best describe and express the modern world. They found their greatest inspiration in nature – not necessarily nature's beauty - but instead it's never changing life cycle of birth, life, decay and death.
 

 René Lalique, French, 1860 - 1945

Jewellery was one of the purest, and most successful expressions of Art Nouveau style, using sensuous lines and organic forms to create a vast range of exceptional beauty and inventiveness. The Art Nouveau jewellers experimented with new forms, materials and techniques focusing more on the originality and beauty of the piece not only the intrinsic value of the materials used. Jewellery made from wood, bone, and brass became popular and enamelling was was extensively used. The best examples of Art Nouveau jewellery in my opinion would be the pieces created by Rene Lalique who was recognized as one of France's foremost Art nouveau jewellery designers and went onto be the most famous in his field, his name synonymous with creativity and quality.

 

translating nature

by Adi Cloete


"Originality consists of returning to the origins." Antoni Gaudi

 

In today's blog I share my amazement with 
Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), known for his architecture that seems as if from a fiary tale!His work include Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, Park Guell and Sagrada Familia, all in Barcelona.

Park Guell

I particularly enjoy how he's fascination with nature was a major inspiration for his designs and ideas in architecture. Vast decorative mosaics are also distinctive of his work. 

Construction of Sagrada Familia started in 1882. Gaudi became involved in the project in 1883. After his death in 1926, work continued despite facing various challenges over the extended period of construction, still in progress. It is anticipated that Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026. 

Familia Sagrada

Going up the tower of the Sagrada Familia reveals spectacular views over the city, stone carved detail and stacked mosaic fruit towers in the heavens high above for lucky birds to see.

bird's view

And then down,down,down...

the stone spiral staircase

Botanical detail can be seen all over...
Pinnacles in the shape of flower buds,branches of a passion fruit tree, vines and columns resembling tree trunks. The structure of Familia Sagrada is created by a forest of trees, inside the temple.

Forest inside

Dome resembles the foliage of forest trees

I am fascinated with the process that combine creativity, maths and science to translate the inspiration drawn from nature into an architectural wonder. 

"That great tree is my teacher."

                                     Gaudi

Of Dragons and Men

Of Dragons and Men

Wax carving is what I do most of the time and am fortunate enough to enjoy this miniature world of detail. Once carved the wax piece is translated into metal by means of a lost wax casting process. The actual carving of wax is time consuming (well, the way I go about it..), The kind of detail that I like means that having a compulsive obsessive disposition is an advantage in this choice of medium. It also means I have plenty of time for contemplation under the guise of being hard at work. Wax carving is such that part of my attention is focused on what I am doing, while the greater part of my thinking can wonder and contemplate at will.

A double finger ring I carved of a Dragon

As a theme for our exhibition, the Fine ounce collective conceived the title “Breath of Fire”, 2012 being the year of the Dragon. I have been joyously carving along this theme, when I can. While busy with carving my thoughts have been a’ wandering and wondering on the subject of Dragons …

Where did the myth of the Dragon originate? The presence of the Dragon myth in most of the worlds ancient cultures suggests to me that such a creature might once have existed and if so where were its beginnings.

It seems that the very first written creation stories of the world (uncovered so far) are from the Sumerian civilization, generally in the area we call Mesopotamia. The word ‘dragon’ as we know it today, only came later with the Greek civilization. Much of the philosophy, cosmology and religion of these later civilizations evolved from the earlier Sumerian myths. The Sumerians depicted these Serpent dragons guarding treasures, holding back floods and dispensing knowledge. Gods and Heroes alike also battle them.

In earlier Asian mythologies Dragons are either Gods or messengers to the Gods. As in earlier Middle Eastern stories the Dragons are most often associated with water and wisdom. However unlike the Middle Eastern and later European stories where there is fighting amidst Dragons, Gods and man, the Asian Dragon is generally benevolent.

 Dragons exist today as myth and fantasy where real understanding has faded, so too has the significance of the symbolism surrounding the concept of Serpents and Dragons. I am thinking specifically of the Caduceas, which is a winged staff with two snakes wrapped around it associated with the Greek God Hermes; and the Ouroboros, which is an image of a Serpent holding its tail in its mouth

The Caduceus is generally perceived as a symbol for medicine. It was only in the 7^th century that it came to be associated with a precursor for medicine. It is often interchangeable with the ‘Rod of Aselepuis’ (single snake, no wings). These symbols origins however, date as early as 2600 BC in Mesopotamia and there are several references to a Caduceus like symbol in the Bible. Historically, these two symbols had distinct meanings in astrological alchemical principles and are perceived by some scholars to represent a DNA double helix. There are others of the opinion that Dragons are linked to the winged gods from the heavens that came to earth to create the human race and are a very important symbology in the creational blueprint of our reality

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Caduceus

 

The other significant Serpent dragon symbol still prevalent today is the Ouroboros. It’s existence is can be traced back to ancient Egypt circa 1600 BC. Most evident in ancient Gnostic texts, the Ouroboros is any image of a snake, worm, serpent or dragon biting it’s own tail. It generally takes the form of a circle but is also interchangeable with a figure 8 shape (mostly known as an infinity symbol). It can represent many concepts- time, life continuity, completion, the repetition of history, the self- sufficiency of nature and the rebirth of the Earth. The Ouroboros (and Caduceus) symbol has also been associated with Kundalini energy. The Ouroboros is evident in many societies throughout history, seen in ancient Egypt, Japan, India, Greek alchemical texts, European woodcuts, Native American Indian tribes and by the Aztecs.

An interesting angle on the significance of the Ouroboros is that of Swiss psychologist Karl Jung. He interprets this symbol as archetypal to the human psyche. As such he describes the Ouroboros as a dramatic symbol for integration and assimilation of the opposite, that is the shadow aspect of the unconscious.

Ouroboros

There are also ideas around the Ouroboros being an astrological alchemical symbol. This mythology implies that the Milky Way Galaxy keeps a time cycle that ends in great and possibly catastrophic change when the serpent eats it’s tail (at the end of this tail of reality). Suntelia Aion is the sun rising out of the mouth of the Ouroboros, which allegedly occurs on December 21, 2012- representing the evolution of consciousness in the alchemy of time.

What is beyond grasp is where fantasy and fact collide. Knowledge eludes, as true understanding is just a faint image in the mist of time.

Meagan Meredith

The conundrum of being German

By Gela Tölken

A while back one of my fellow Fine Ounce Collective members wrote an amusing piece about her (as she termed them) “well-organized, calm and collected” German companions at the Design Indaba Expo 2012. The writer went so far as to state that she would prefer to be German in her next life (http://fineouncegoldsmithcollective.blogspot.com/2012/03/double-sided-design-indaba-baba.html).

Being German myself (if only by descent, background, education and mother-tongue) I could relate to the writer’s observations. Some of us tend to be well organized, and yes, some of us rarely panic (at least not in an easily discernible way). There is, however, a conundrum involved with “being German”. The dilemma is best expressed in the series of images below:

How the world would look if we would all be German:

(images courtesy of a private email received)

You laugh? Me too – because the essence is only too true for me: with my tendency and/or urge to organize, label, classify and neaten everything, I often find myself taking away from things (usually considerably), rather than adding to them… especially when it comes to my creative work.

Before I elaborate, I would like to interject that being from German descent certainly does not account for my way of approaching and doing things on its own. Upbringing, habit and personality are other major contributing factors. For myself, however, I have come to refer to the outcome of the entire bundle of influencing dynamics as “being German”, and it is within that rather epitomizing sense that I use it here.

Thus, in relation to my creative practice, I often consider “being German” as both my best and my worst attribute. When it comes to technical detail and craftsmanship, my inherent need for perfection, precision and neatness is definitely well placed. I pride myself on the technical quality of my pieces – even though I have to guard against finishing them off until too little of them remains to ensure their structural integrity. Similarly, when seeking solutions to technical problems, my engineering-like “Vorsprung durch Technik” mindset usually yields some interesting, positive results.

When it comes to the truly creative part of my work, however, I often feel profoundly inhibited by my “German” characteristics. Allowing chaos to exist, even only on paper in my design pages, is often a real challenge for me. The urge to straighten and neaten lines, and to impose a system where perhaps there should be none, is considerable. Also, to embrace deviations from anticipated and planned outcomes of ideas, processes or techniques is often somewhat arduous.

How then, do I deal with the dilemma of “being German”?

I somehow realized early on that my creative practise and its outcomes are an inevitable mirror of who I am, the life I lead and the way I think and feel about it. My jewellery is such an integral part of my self-expression that, in order to have any effect on it, I would have to change the fabric of who I am and how I operate. I wanted to break through my limiting boundaries, and so worked at it deliberately: trying to be more spontaneous in my approach to life, learning to trust invisible, undefined, unpremeditated processes, seeking to exercise less control over my surroundings, attempting to steer away from perfection in everything but the technical execution of my pieces, consciously opening and exposing myself to the “strange” and “unfamiliar”, allowing chaos to exist and refraining from seeking out and establishing systems everywhere.

Did I succeed in some way?

In some small, encouraging ways, yes: my home is a bit less than perfectly neat these days, I welcome serendipity into my creative process more readily, I play and experiment more, and now and again I succeed in not taking everything so serious. These tiny changes reflect in my work, which has gradually evolved over the past years to become somewhat more light-hearted and playful, less structured and perhaps thus slightly more accessible. Yet, even though these achievements are heartening, it will probably be an on-going battle for me, fighting the urge to structure and systemize the playground and so take away from its essence and lively beauty.

Post Script to the preceeding post

It goes without saying that despite the challenges to be overcome in order to save wild places, that we should not give up; but each do everything we can, however little or much, to heal our planet and save what wild is left, and to be aware of our impact on the resources essential to all our survival.

Wild and sacred places - jane mcilleron

About this time last year I was lucky enough to be able to spend a few days in a private nature reserve in the Cederberg, and have been reminded of it now. 

Although it is still very cold (there was snow on the mountains in the vicinity when we arrived), spring is well underway in these arid parts of the Western Cape.

All sorts of improbable and exuberant flowers appear from stony ground, sand flats and thorny scrub. Plants with fat, flat, succulent leaves produce delicate shimmering blooms, like exotic butterflies settling for a few moments of rest en route to much lusher climes. Grey, almost leafless bushes are covered in pink and purple mists of incredibly intricate tiny flowers.

 The hairy grey green clumps of Arctotis daisies remind me of poppies in the way their buds are borne curled over on furry stems, to lift up and burst into haloes of orange flame. In the shelter of a rock on a hillside a mass of papery bells glow a strange blue-green tinged white.

 Whole slopes blaze in brilliant colour. I am enchanted.

Even greater is the impact made on me by the landscape. The vast space and distance, the indescribable light, the silence – it is like a healing, a benediction... - I can't find the right word.

It feels as if my soul has been washed, mended and smoothed out.

The landscape is made up of quite distinct communities of plants. It is a strange feeling; I would be walking through an area dominated by a distinct group of plants, then suddenly, without having noticed it happen, I would find myself in an entirely different collection of species. Some of the plants seemed almost sentient; as if,had I been equipped with the right language and sense for detecting it, I could have heard them exchanging strange and subtle intelligence This applied especially to a community of Euphorbias that looked like line drawings of sparse skeletal trees, reaching way above the low bushes and plants like an ethereal plan for a taller type of vegetation. I can't explain why I felt this way; I don't usually get that sort of feeling about plants, nor do I talk to them.

At night the cold clear air tastes like the delicious icy water in the stream. The stars are so thick and bright. The Milky Way is milky and the whole sky is punctured and peppered with stars, too many to comprehend, giving me the feeling of an abyss of perception or conception, a vastness of space unimaginable, and simultaneously a reminder of the insignificance of my puny self. I remember Stephen Watson's versions or translations from the /Xam, in which the narrator recalls the sound of the stars, saying “tsau, tsau”.

There are traces of the sensitive and dreamlike rock paintings done by these First People.

There are high areas with magnificent anarchic rock formations, remnants of a surely violent geological past, as well as more level sandy flat plains in the valleys, and rolling hilly areas covered in low scrub. There is quite a bit of wildlife – antelope, zebra, leopards and aardvark (we didn't see either of these two, only spoor) ostriches and some other birds.

After coming home the memory of Bakkrans clung like a fragment of music to the edges of my awareness.. Eventually I made some earrings that in some way came from the weird improbability and unlikeliness of the plants - the way a plant built as if to withstand a century of drought and hot scouring winds will produce a glowing delicate flower, or a bush that seems only to know about thorns will shroud itself in incredibly complex and tiny blossoms.

They are entirely inadequate as a response to the rare and extraordinary beauty of our semi arid landscapes such as the Cedarberg, the Karroo and the Richtersveld. Even my father's photos do not do it. I don't think there is any medium that can convey the experience. These places are unique and very vulnerable. It is unbearably sad to know how unlikely it is that they will last even for one more generation.

I think another of Stephen Watson's poems in his versions from the /Xam is appropriate; it expresses the grief of a man foreseeing the simultaneous destruction of a his people, their civilisaton and the magical, fragile land they inhabit.

Here is the last verse from

THE SONG OF THE BROKEN STRING

by Stephen Watson.

Because

of this string,

because of a people

breaking the string,

this earth, my place

is the place

of something -

a thing broken -

that does not

stop sounding,

breaking within me.

(from Dia!kwain)

Photographs: Geoff McIlleron.

Taking pictures       by MAike Valcarcel

                                                                                                      

We are goldsmiths, not photographers.

But most of us do take the pictures of our jewellery ourselves. We need them for our website,

For advertising, for our records….

Hey, but it`s not easy to take good pictures. I for one have never learned to use my camera properly and its not just a matter of aiming and shooting.

Background, lighting, sharpness, composition all play a mayor role.

So I try my best but the results are limited.

But then once in a while we are treated to professional pictures.

We are asked to provide jewellery for photo shoots being it for magazines, online shops, online magazines, brochures…

The results can be amazing!:

    Left:      2 of my rings on the left and 2 of Frieda`s rings on the right

   Centre:  my felted flower rings in a photo shoot by HalfHalo

   Right:    rings of mine used in an editorial called “before you kill us all” by Darren Gwynn

 Pictures taken by Elsofie Pitout of Half Halo

Jewellery by myself