Sieraad met een verhaal, 2006
kitchen necklace
delft earthware, thread, gold
(collection coda museum apeldoorn)
All my treasures
Occasionally, the realm of jewellery and commodities shift together very closely…
Objects of use often become intimately precious and indispensable to us, as it happens
sometimes to a piece of jewellery that we wear day in, day out.
On the one hand there are objects that help us master our daily life’s course in a purely
functional way. But on the other hand there are those others we feel really close to, joined
to us as it were. Maybe because they’ve just always been there, or maybe our mother and
grandmother already used them. Or it might be just a detail that fascinates us. Sometimes
they seem to embody our wishes, or moods, a certain goal, or memories, a certain habit,
or they might represent our affiliation to a certain group.
And then again, they might even not be really practical at all.
But still we like using them. Maybe in a very personal way. They seem to belong to us the
same way we belong to them. Because such an object actually adapts through
our specific way of handeling it.
We love them. They become the jewels in our daily life.
Using things pertains to body measurement, and wearing jewellery is about use in daily life.
I’m fascinated with this aspect of personal preciousness that I observe in relation to all kinds
of belongings. Especially such objects that usually seem to find a place quite close and near
to the body. I like exploring the ways in which such a connection to us and our body
manifest themselves.
My materials of choice are precious metals, china (shards), textile, as well as the very tough and
resistant Japanese Urushi lacquer. These all come from the interlocking context of household,
kitchen, table, and meals. These materials seem to catch and ennoble this fleeting commonplace
culture that surrounds us and preserve it.
Often my objects and jewels (kleinoden, Dutch for little treasures) are primarily what they are:
small autonomous objects. It’s either their use itself (as in the case of my spoons) or just a simple
addition (as in the connecting needle for the ice cream sticks) that establishes the relationship
with the body and makes them wearable. And sometimes they do become real jewellery.
