As an art-maker it is difficult for me to always create with a uniform sense of style and contour. This may be incorrect from a commercial perspective, and I put in much energy to not lose myself in an abundance of ideas, yet I always find myself renewing items in different collections, and this is one of the reasons why I make- in my opinion, timeless jewelry.

When I started the printed-plaster collection everything was new and very exciting- the size of the material and the feelings it gave me were like a fresh start, and I knew I had to develop my ideas with the material as much as possible. The work process was different from previous ones I’d known- I could create items that were still comfortable and wearable, yet reached in these items a visual aesthetic/texture different from ones I’d previously created. The combination of organic form and new technology vs. traditional embroidery on soft fabric were attractive to me, like any big contrast in design.

The shapes were created digitally and 3-D printed, then processed and polished. The embroidery was taken from romanian blouses, picked exclusively in the flea market (at first I tried doing the embroidery myself- which led me to respect even more the ones I found).

 I filled the printed cocoons with soft filling, wrapped by the embroidered fabric, and this whole manages in my opinion to express the spirit of the time in which we are living, in which we find in progressive technologies a feeling of hand-craftedness, this boundary blurring more and more as technology and mediums continue to progress. For example: whenever I work on a private commission for a customer and send her a sketch in 3-D computer software, I find myself explaining that in the end the product will look like any normal piece of jewelry- completely handmade.   

The whole plaster collection was done by 3-D printing a ceramic-like powder made of hardened polymers, and like in any research process or collection pushing boundaries and checking edges were essential. I made many failed attempts until I finally reached, technically and visually, the correct thickness, glue, proportions, and way of working with the material.

The material from which the collection is made is fragile (like any other piece of ceramic-like jewelry), so unfortunately the sketches I decided not to use, and pieces that broke during the making, found themselves in a sad box which I reluctantly relinquished.

These facts led me to the decision that this collection is a limited edition, and that future manufacture will be stopped. Our awareness of the materials we work with, as well as the waste we produce, increases with time, so I feel now that working with expensive metals gives me more artistic freedom- from the knowing that I can recycle and refine the material again and again.

However, I am not preaching, or contending for Greta Thunberg’s crown!

 “I try to be careful in the things I put out to the world” Cas Holman