1. How did your upbringing influence your decision to be a jewelry maker?
To
be honest, it's all been quite un-purposeful. Growing up I wanted to go into
fashion design but I somehow caught on to the jewelry vein instead. I feel
like there's quite a bit of scope as an artist when making jewelry. You can
turn any concept or idea into a wearable piece. I was incredibly fortunate growing up in that my dad took me overseas quite a bit. I feel as though
travelling often has been my greatest influence to date. Christopher McCandless
put it well when he said, "the core of a man’s spirit comes from new
experiences."
2. How would you describe your brand Yellow Jewelry?
It's
quite difficult, it's like describing the taste of water. You see, it's more a
feeling than anything. It's an experiment that fuses conceptual/ideas and
real/tangible objects. No two pieces are the same. And there are many different
lines, it's all over the place. There're bullets and crystals, creating a
tangible object with the conceptual idea of the dichotomy of good and bad. Then
there are bones I've cast out of resin to illustrate the concept of "in
the end, we are all the same”. But once you release your ideas to the public,
it can become anything anyone wants it to be. Someone may really love a certain
crystals healing power and choose to buy it because of that, I just happen to
find crystals majestic and pure and to mix that with a man-made, death
inflicting piece of brass was to me a powerful statement.
3. I personally enjoyed looking at the "Paris
Highlights Film Collection” what
inspired that?
The
film collection goes back to traveling and my awareness of time. I think of
photographs as capturing a moment in time and a 35mm slide was at one point in
history, the photographs of that time. So it's a sort of time inception. I
think it's good to remember how times change and how quickly it runs out.
4. How do you come up with fresh ideas?
The
problem with an idea is that I have no idea where they come from. It's only in
the moments of pure clarity that ideas spring into your head. I think new
experiences and people help a lot. Throwing away any kind of routine and being
extremely immersed in newness tends to lend a hand at getting ideas buzzing.
5. How competitive is the industry you are in?
when
I was in high school we would all be in art class painting and everyone had
their ideas and painted their paintings but I never once had the thought of
"his painting is my competition/it's better/it's worse". I suppose
there are many jewelry designers out there but there are many bakers and many teachers and coffee shops as well. There were many who came before me and there
will be many after I'm gone. I think if you have an interest in something it's
impossible to be bad at it and unfortunately it's impossible to be the
"only one". I think as a human being you just have to pursue your
love and do your utmost best and everything starts to happen from there.
6. If you had a budget of R500 to blow everyone away at Design Indaba,
what would you do?
I'd
buy the biggest fan or leaf blower I could for that price. Or bake some
delicious
treats to give away.
Written by : Lethabo Ngakane
Twitter: @lambisking
