Design scavenger – Joanne Haywood

London-based Joanne Haywood is not only a studio jeweller but also a teacher, an artist, a writer and a textile expert; as well as a scavenger who loves mudlarking to collect found objects and create hybrid pieces that mix historical treasures from the past alongside textiles.

Coming from an art and jewellery design background, Joanne Haywood graduated from London's Central Saint Martins in 2001, since when she has been working as an art jeweller.

Her bold and eye-catching jewellery draws upon the conflict of opposites for dramatic effect - skeletal forms and fleshy volumes, natural and unnatural and the interplay of light and shadow. She gets most of the inspiration that feeds back into her work while mudlarking and fossil-hunting across Europe, one of her favourite pastimes.

"I am obsessed with objects," says the British artist. "I imagine the object knows and has a memory of everything that has happened to it, words that were spoken next to it, or the smell of the cooking near by. For me, an object, especially an old one with a function or with the suggestion of ritual, myth, tradition or magic, that is what makes my mind buzz."

This explains perfectly the uniqueness of her recent work, such as the "Pipe Flower Neckpieces" which take up the human story through pieces that reach back into the faraway history of England and the exposed objects that come to light through her historical scavenger hunt.

The thinking behind these pieces was to explore the transitional by combining the old clay pipes that she found at the Thames foreshore with historical textile artefacts to archaeologically evidence London's history. The artist adds, "The neckpieces are also in an altered state - a pipe becoming a flower."

She continues: "[I also tried to] build onto the historical artefact something of the living textile, reminiscent of the loss of textile artefacts to water damage and time but also indicative of the re-inventive power of threads, like Minta's missing brooch in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. (In)significant objects, especially those of desire, sustain and prevail, and offer themselves unexpectedly from the past for our engagement and revisitation."

In the meantime, a similar concept can be seen in her "Artefact Neckpieces," which are based on the experience of viewing old woven textiles. "Again, it is the altered state that I find intriguing. The way a woven textile can start to deteriorate over time, the way that the warp and weft can lose pieces and start to separate and become something new, something unintended, but beautiful nonetheless," she explains.

Nature and gardens are also recurrent themes in her jewellery. Enjoying growing her own fruit and vegetables in her garden, the British artist tries to keep herself constantly surrounded by the changes in nature and seasons and this always creeps its way into her design.

Her new work, "Strange Garden," is imbued with the theme of the garden. The work alludes to the "idea of a parallel place, a secret garden that exists but at the same time cannot exist." Her playful touch with materials of bright red thread and black oxidised metal means the viewer cannot distinguish if the metal is sprouting from the thread or vice versa. The work is an overgrown entanglement of fibre and metal.

A sense of history and the past also plays a vital role in Joanne's design philosophy. Taking "Talisman Pectoral" as an example, this work aims to capture the essence of ancient ceremonial jewellery, even though it has symbolism that might not be read and interpreted. She adds, "I like the mystery of these kinds of artefacts and that's what I want the viewer to pick up on, even if it is a feeling rather than knowing that is the intention."

With customers in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain, US and Japan, Joanne has been selling her work mainly through design galleries and joint-artist exhibitions in the UK and Europe. CreativityOggetti, a glass, ceramics and jewellery gallery based in Turin, Italy, has recently been stocking Joanne's work.

Apart from designing, the artist has also been dedicating more time and effort to writing over the last few years. Last year, her first book, Mixed Media Jewellery: Design and Make, was published. It took her two years to research, write, design and produce. She says, "I thoroughly enjoyed every part of it. It was a real privilege to be able to research what is happening across the globe with mixed media jewellery and to be able to share the work with a wider audience." Meanwhile, Joanne was invited to write the design section for a new book called Contemporary Jewellery Making Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide for Jewellers and Metalsmiths.

Photographers: Joanne Haywood and Alan Parkinson

Source: Asia's Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Review