The starting point is the human body which is construed as the link between the person’s outer and inner worlds – this concept defines the design approach taken at Ädellab, the Dept. of Jewelry at the Konstfack Stockholm, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. On the basis of the existing Dept. of Metals, Ädellab was founded in 2004 by Dutch jewelry artist Ruudt Peters and has since 2006 been emphatically influenced by Danish jewelry artist Karen Pontoppidan, who is head of Ädellab by now.
The department’s methodology cuts across both geographical borders and artistic ideas. Ädellab has made a name for itself with a decidedly contemporary approach that explores the possibilities afforded by the medium of jewelry as an important and independent form of expression today. A person’s own ideas, observations, fascinations and obsessions can just as much be lent form as can emotions, issues of identity or interpersonal debate.
Karen Pontoppidan comments: “The final-year projects undertaken by exam students are not a matter of fulfilling an educational task, but demonstrate the individual need for expression that spawns creation. The artistic expression and therefore the work of the graduates cannot therefore be understood only in terms of intrinsic logic or the wish to understand the existence of the state of things. The work was created because an artist, a human being with experiences, feelings, dreams and failures, wanted the pieces to be.”
The exhibition is being held on the occasion of the Schmuck (Jewelry) show at the Internationale Handwerksmesse. Under the direction of Professor Karen Pontoppidan Ädellab is presenting a selection of final-year projects from the last five years at Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich.
Pinakothek der Moderne. Munich
Ädellab – The State of Things. Konstfack Stockholm. Jewelry
March 17 – April 29, 2012
Exhibition view. Photo: Rainer Viertlböck
Exhibition view. Photo: Rainer Viertlböck