RISE AND SHINE
Changing tastes, budgets and technologies mean creative inspiration for jewellers. By Leigh-Anne Hunter
WHEN you slip the dragonfly ring on your finger, its wings flutter open. “Jewellery should touch your soul,” says Soweto jeweller Thomas Mosala. “I made this to show that everyone has the potential to fly.”
Three years ago, Mosala, 24, won the New Talent title at the Thuthuka Awards, which recognise emerging jewellery designers. This year’s contest attracted 300 students. “People are bored with mass production and cheap imports,” says the project’s mastermind, Carola Ross. “This is about creating something that makes you say, ‘Wow!’.”
Mosala studied at Germiston’s Ekurhuleni Jewellery Project, where Lincoln Mokoena trains disadvantaged youths. Most graduates secure jobs at jewellers (such as Browns) or run their own businesses from the facility. Setting up a workshop could otherwise cost R100 000.
As a child, Mokoena made rings from brass taps. “I’ve always loved how you can turn a lump of metal into something extraordinary,” he says over screeching drills. Heat blasts from a blowtorch as we pass students in overalls stooping over workbenches strewn with tools.
Jewellers such as Mokoena have had to adapt to survive. He taught himself computer-software skills mid-career but he still enjoys hands-on work the most.
A stone’s throw away, at Design@50, the contrast is staggering. Here postgraduate students design jewellery on computers in a sterile, air-conditioned room.
If you’ve bought jewellery recently, chances are it was 3D-printed, perhaps even in this room, although it takes an expert eye to tell. Printed in wax or resin layers, 3D jewellery can have fine lines in places that are hard to polish. But the ring mould I’m handed from a R550 000 rapid prototyping machine looks flawless.
Design@50, which opened in April, is the only institution in SA that gears designers towards the commercial arena, says project head Edna de Bruyn. “Our major retailers buy from international jewellery fairs, not local designers. The idea is to bring everything back home.”
3D jewellery artist Dr Michaella Janse van Vuuren, whose seadog pendant will be part of an exhibition next year in Cape Town to mark the city’s selection as World Design Capital 2014, says: “The 3D world is coming and it’s going to change everything.”
The technology is more precise, cuts production time and makes jewellery more affordable. Hand engraving is becoming obsolete: you can have your beloved’s name inscribed on a ring with a few clicks
of a mouse.
But Geraldine Fenn, who runs Parkhurst jewellery store Tinsel with her husband, Eric Loubser, says the trend has created more demand for handmade goods and a greater appreciation for craftsmanship.
The couple sell pieces by 12 local designers and from their own workshop. “We’re traditional jewellers. We love making stuff,” says Fenn, a former archaeologist who makes vintage-inspired jewellery, some with rose gold. But they’ve had to keep up with the times, too. It’s more cost-effective to outsource certain pieces to be 3D-printed.
“There’s amazing stuff you can’t make by hand. But jewellery is the most personal thing because it’s linked to life events. I think this is why there will always be a market for handmade, one-of-a-kind jewellery.”
The industry has been hard hit by the recession and the rising price of gold and silver. “Jewellery is a luxury item. Even if people can afford it, they might not want to spend R10 000 on a pair of earrings. It’s like trying to sell a piece of art.”
Tinsel’s clients, who are mainly young professionals, are opting for budgetfriendly pieces, such as small pendants with speck-sized stones.
“People still buy jewellery, but they want affordable alternatives. That’s good for designers because it challenges us to be creative.”
Fenn now also uses black or brown diamonds in engagement rings. Fashion trends also play a part. Green was dubbed colour of the year, so emeralds are in.
“The market has changed drastically,” says goldsmith Colin Campbell, who has had commissions for pewter USB holders, jewelled cellphone covers and lobola jewellery. He shows me earrings with cows engraved on them.
I love creating things it wasn’t possible to make before
Joburg goldsmith Leza McLeod has a stud in her nose and a miniature Ponte Tower on her finger. She made this ring, called “Love Johannesburg”, on day 363 of her most ambitious project yet: one ring every day for a year.
“I think rings are the ultimate jewellery — they are more symbolic,” she says.
Now 42, McLeod was 19 when she began her apprenticeship. She knew she wanted to be a goldsmith the moment she stepped into a jeweller’s workshop in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she grew up. But gold isn’t her only medium. She has made rings from embroidery thread, keepsakes and spirals of birch.
Some rings have components that can be altered to suit the wearer’s mood.
McLeod points out that people have been making jewellery for thousands of years. Today’s techniques are an integration of old and new. The wax casting used in 3D-printing is an ancient technique. Designers still need oldfashioned know-how, says Campbell. “So many times I’ve seen 3D jewellery that just doesn’t work. Jewellery is small engineering. It requires precision and patience.”
Could you argue it’s still handmade? There’s still a human behind it all, says Janse van Vuuren. Some of her art pieces took months to create. “Sometimes I think it would be easier if I made them by hand. But I love the freedom of creating things it wasn’t possible to make before.”
Mosala spent days tinkering with his dragonfly ring to make the wings move. Had it come out of a printer, would it mean quite as much?
McLeod’s work can be seen at the Liz Loubser Gallery in Risidale, Johannesburg, until November 23.
Thuthuka Exhibition 2013 is at Hyde Park Shopping Centre from November 26 to December 8.
Janse van Vuuren’s work will be shown at GUILD at the V&A Waterfront from February 28 to March 9. Call 073 173 0750.