Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery

REFRESH

As the first frosts of winter approach, Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery embraces the season with a sparkling collection of work from this year’s top new jewellery talents.

Tropical colours will light up dark days; rubber gloves appear as you’ve never seen them before; coffee cup stains transform into necklaces; wire, nails and string become beautiful; tiny chairs and forks symbolise a far-away home. Whether you need to ‘refresh’ your spirit or find the perfect present, you need look no further.

Originating from around the globe, the nine new graduates in Refresh, all from British Universities, present collections inspired by their extremely diverse experiences and backgrounds.

Starting with the most local talent, Leeds jeweller Jenny Llewellyn shows a vibrant collection of rings and earrings inspired by the luminous colours, amazing shapes and movements of creatures from the deep. Her silicone pieces move with the wearer and glow in the dark to create jewellery that is playful and very tactile. Iris De la Torre takes the tropical colours, cultural symbols and traditional arts and crafts of her native Mexico as the starting point for her graphic, geometric jewellery. Bright, juicy magnetic brooches, belts and necklaces are crafted from Perspex and rubber.

Calling all domestic goddesses! When you have finished creating culinary masterpieces, it’s time to don the rubber gloves … though not as you know them. Hand the Marigolds to someone else whilst you head for one of Min-Ji Cho’s magical mirrors – each is draped with one of her utterly gorgeous, glamorous necklaces made from precious pearls and tips and coils of rubber gloves! Reflecting her interest in ‘extending the potential of jewellery’ and ‘combining materials that represent the extremes of precious and non-precious’, Min-Ji believes jewellery should be enjoyed as much when it’s off the body as when it’s on.

Turning discarded ‘stuff’ into new treasure and revitalising remnants of all kinds inspires the work
of Antonella Giomarelli, Anna Frances Deacon and Momoko Kumai. For Antonella, the mark left behind by a coffee cup is transformed into an elegant necklace, ‘the lonely knot of string at the bottom of the bin’ becomes a captivating brooch. Paperclips and parcel straps – translated into silver and given a new permanence - ‘become monuments to their former selves’.

Anna’s collection of jolly fabric neckpieces use traditional textile techniques to transform scraps and leftovers, reflecting her belief that nothing has to go to waste – as well as her fascination with Pippi Longstocking’s idea that ‘stuff’ only turns up if you look for it and that “The whole world is filled with things that are just waiting for someone to come along and find them … that’s what a turnupstuffer does.”

Momoko’s work shows the transformation of an everyday material such as paper napkins – into dramatic catwalk creations. She is also inspired by the ‘repetitive arrangement, delicate layering pattern and overlapping lines of reams of copy paper, which she translates into a stunning collection of fine gold and silver rings.

It was Christine Kaltoft’s fascination with her pet chickens and their ‘strutting, pecking, flapping and preening…and essential birdiness’, that led her to become involved in rescuing and re-homing battery hens! Her joy at watching these hens enjoying their new free-range lives, being able to ‘carry out normal chickeny behaviours’ for the first time, is expressed by her delicate brooches, earrings and neckpieces. The organic shapes and graphic lines are formed using a variety of techniques ranging from crochet to laser welding.

Being far from her native Iceland has led Helga Mogensen’s work to symbolically represent ‘people and places which are missing from my life.’ Her brooches use gentle materials such as driftwood, unexpectedly combined with bone and cured fish skin, in soft colours and with tiny gold chairs or forks which evoke her strong relationship with her family, her home and its landscapes. Sian Anwyl Williams’ is also absorbed by ‘hiraethu’, a longing for home, in this case the Welsh hills. Inspired by her rich agricultural surroundings, her jewellery is an intriguing mix of precious metals and rusting farmyard relics.

Collectable 4 Christmas

Following on from a highly successful ‘Collectors’ Event’ earlier this year, Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery is providing another opportunity to see and purchase highly collectable contemporary jewellery – the antique jewels of the future - from four established jewellers with international reputations.

The work on show includes German jeweller Bettina Speckner’s enchanting brooches combining photographs with precious metals, diamonds and other stones to create enigmatic compositions. Scotland’s Marianne Anderson presents her collection of sumptuous necklaces, earrings and cufflinks; oxidised silver and 18ct gold is ornamented with garnets and huge pearls in a refreshingly original interpretation of earlier, highly decorative jewellery.

From Spain, Xavier Ines Monclús has long been a Gallery favourite and his charming, quirky brooches displaying a typically Spanish surreal touch are highly collectable. Finally, Poppy Dandiya’s rings in hammered white and yellow gold are set with an eclectic mix of richly coloured precious gems, including some beautiful unusual cinnamon diamonds. In demand from jewellery lovers around the world, Poppy’s timeless designs at once capture his Indian heritage and western influences and are often described as having an ancient treasure like quality.

Prices for items in the Collectable 4 Christmas showcase range from £75 - £5000.

Refresh and Collectable 4 Christmas run from 12th November 2007 – 27th January 2008. Salts Mill is open week days from 10am – 5.30pm and weekends 10am – 6pm.