Jeremy May
May refers to his work as "literary jewels" this is because although one can not tell right away, his pieces are made out of paper. And not just any paper but from pages pulled out of books that according to him have a history or have been read, written in, resold, or gifted. To create his one of a kind pieces, May laminates hundreds sheets of paper together, then applies a high glass finish. The piece of jewlery is then placed back into space where the paper came from. I also adore that May refeers to his rings as "traveling finger ornaments." Aside from this being a very interecting concept for jewelry, May's forms are also unusul. Perhaps inspired by his other passion, landscape architecture?
Naomi McIntosh
According to McIntosh, an architect by training, she has "developed techniques in making jewelry with sculptural qualities that highlights spaces around the body." Her latest collection of wooden necklaces called "Boundaries" employes vivid colors to highlight the forms and draw attention to areas of the body. While she describes the pieces as being "precise and very structural" they also move with the wearer and are incredibly organic.
Kelly Nedderman
Of her work the San Francisco-based Nedderman has said "I was trained primarily as a textile designer and, every time I sit down at my bench, I strive to combine my passion for metal with my passion for pattern, repetition and textures. Many of my jewelry pieces contain my own hand made paper that I have screen-printed and manipulated. They are then set under vintage eyeglass, microscope or camera lenses, which serve to protect, enhance, distort and magnify them. In this instance, the surface is contained and protected. Additional pieces have focused on bringing the surfaces to the outside, thereby creating a unique tactile experience for the wearer. The contrast between surfaces is what I find most appealing."
Chequita Nahar
Nahar's jewlery is made of porcelain, oak, and pine. An unusual combination for an unusual artist who believes that our background is eseential to our personalities. Nahar brings her Surinam roots to her jewlery design, thereby her collections are "inspired by a combination of traditional Surinam rituals and objects, including beads, and present-day symbolism and values."
Kazumi Nagano
It is not uncommon for an artist to make jewelry out of woven gold, but no one combines them with Nihonga, a traditional Japanese painting technique. Nagano’s use of Japanese lacquer and paper thread result in pieces that are light and ethereal yet bold and beautiful. John Moore
Inspired by Amazonian artifacts and natural forms, John Moore creates makes jewelry from brightly colored aluminum, silver and steel. "Moore incorporates tens or hundreds of repeated shapes in each piece he creates, combining them to make a cohesive object that is greater than its parts. While his aluminum discs come together to make a seemingly solid form, Moore’s use of color creates an optical effect that contradicts this illusion of solidity."
Angela O'Keefe
In her own words: O’Keefe, a Scottish experimental jewelry artist, works with crystals of salt. The artist studied at Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence, Italy, but found her inspiration after swimming in the Dead Sea. When she emerged from the water, she discovered that the crystals of salt that formed on her skin made her body sparkle in the sunlight as if covered by a thousand gemstones: these Dead Sea crystals were jewelry in its purest form. She enhances the natural beauty of salt crystals by combining them with precious metals, resin, and pigment. These beautiful alchemical pieces remind us of the elemental nature of salt - a substance without which we cannot live.
Kathleen Novak Tucci
Novak Tucci has successfully made eco-friendly jewlery sexy. Here necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, and belts made of recycled rubber (particularly recycled bicycle or motorcycle inner tubes and stainless steel brake cables). Of her work, Novak Tucci has said: "I have always liked C and S curves juxtaposed against geometric shapes such as squares, circles and triangles. I feel a strongly influenced by art-deco furniture, architecture and fashion. Working with the raw material of recycled rubber allows me to make dramatic pieces with very little weight."
Joe Pillari
Working with hand-painted enamel and silver, Pillari references classic images that evoke the concept of man in a post-humanist world—the objects he creates become very personal reminders that man is a small figure in the totality of existence. In his own words: Through the making of jewelry I have realized the importance of workmanship. It has become my goal to develop work that displays an understanding of technical ability as a significant aspect of the development of thoughtful imagery. I seek to engage an audience that is excited to embrace the beauty of craft and the intellect of art.
Emiko Oye
Although you might feel like a kid again wearing Oye's jewlery made from repurposed toys and LEGOs but her collection called "reware" is all about creating "works that subtly transform the identity of mundane objects and provoke new ideas about our relationship with the environment and contemporary culture."
