DESIGN NAME: The Poetic Green
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Jewelry
INSPIRATION: In jade artifacts industry, green nephrite is usually made into large wholesale vessels, because it is not considered a very precious type of gemstone. In order to make the container hollow, the material inside is always divided into several concentric cylinders, cut down and removed out. Such a process seems natural, and the manufacturers in Nanyang produce tons of these cylinders every day. But if the stone becomes more difficult to obtain in the future, we will not waste it like this.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: By using leftover nephrite to make jewelry, the Poetic Green includes necklaces, breast pieces and brooches. The ideas of eastern jade are reconsidered and reconstructed in the project. With first-hand observation of the jade industry in China, an inner story is revealed, and a more ecological, humanistic and sympathetic design approach is provided. The research gives us deeper insights into the complex networks of the stone, the technologies, the ethnic memories and the wearing cultures.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: The jewelry makes crisp sounds when the thin jade chain is gently shaken. People could interact with it not only by seeing and touching it, but also by listening to it. The experience is different from the one we have when wearing a single piece of jade ornament or small beads. The sound is important because it evokes our old memories of jade culture. When wearing it, the body is always restrained by the jewelry. The wearer needs to slow down and become aware of what they are doing.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project started in May 2023. Two three-month fieldworks were undertaken separately in Nanyang and Suzhou, China. It took another two months for finishing the pieces in Nanjing. The works were exhibited in Ming Museum, Suzhou in September 2023, Rong Bao Zhai, Beijing in January 2024, and get included in SMCK Magazine special Issue 2024 Schmuck Catalogue.
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: The jargon zhaohuo means discovering a stone's potential. The idea can be a strategy to discover the hidden vitality in the rigid industrial chain. In the project, the leftovers of beads and tea sets are collected intentionally, cut with minimal waste, and polished as if they were of the finest texture. Moreover, the thin-wall technique is a key technical point. The two-millimeter thin jade slices make jewelry lighter but not be dragged apart by gravity because of its dense mineral structure.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Main Image and image 3: Breast piece, 97x1ox3.5cm, nephrite, sterling silver, copper, steel wire, thin-wall technique, prong setting.
Image 2: Necklace, 8ox38x35cm, nephrite, sterling silver, silk fabric, thin-wall technique, bezel setting.
Image 4: Breast piece, 52x3x1.2cm, nephrite, sterling silver, copper, steel wire, thin-wall technique, prong setting.
Image 5: Brooch, 12x5.5x0.8cm, 9x5x0.8cm, 8x7.5x0.8cm, 12.5x7.5x0.8cm, nephrite, copper, steel wire, polishing, prong setting.
TAGS: jade, nephrite, jewelry, handmade, ethnographic fieldwork, thin-wall
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: The practice-led research includes ethnographic fieldwork. The main objective is to develop the value and discourse power of design in jade. The purpose of design is to tackle and reconstruct the ideas of jade culture. Participant-observations and in-depth interviews with owners and craftsmen in market, carving and polishing studios were undertaken. The fieldwork in Nanyang was made into a handicraft documentary, and the jewelry works were invited to be exhibited internationally.
CHALLENGE: The main challenge was that, in the field of jade jewelry, design action has not yet realized its greatest value. Although modern jade artifacts look like the old ones, the inner spirituality has gradually disintegrated. The danger is treating jade as inexhaustible raw materials and creating handicrafts in the way of mass production, neglecting the uniqueness of each one. The project attempts to provide an alternative design approach, while there are more possibilities waiting to be discovered.
ADDED DATE: 2024-02-12 12:17:45
TEAM MEMBERS (1) : Anqi Li
IMAGE CREDITS: Photographer Han Chen, The Poetic Green, 2024.
All the photos were taken by Han Chen.
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