Folding – AmeliasMagazine

Kate Sibley Jewellery by Laura Griffin

When I first looked at images of Kate Sibley’s stone ‘paper’ Future Jewellery I was reminded of a gorgeous book I fell in love with a few years ago called ‘The Paper Jewelry Collection: Easy to wear and ready to make pop out artwear’. It features beautiful patterns printed on variously shaped paper which you can remove from the book and fold in different ways to create eye catching jewellery pieces. I still have this book and, like Kate Sibley’s jewellery, find it hugely inspiring. Both push boundaries in terms of what form jewellery pieces can have and what materials they are made of – the latter being especially crucial at the moment in terms of sustainability. The limited edition pieces by Kate Sibley are transitory and deliberately have a short lifespan, agreeing with the fast fashion trend. Yet the jewellery, made from non-toxic stone ‘paper’, can be infinitely recycled or safely composted at the end of its life, leaving no negative imprint on the environment. Here Kate Sibley shares with us a little about the context, inspirations and processes behind her origami-like jewellery collection.

Kate Sibley Jewellery Necklaces group

You started out as a graphic designer, how did you become interested in jewellery design specifically and decide to do an MA at Central Saint Martins?
My undergraduate degree was in eco design and design studies at Goldsmiths College where my final piece was in fact a jewellery collection. The graphics route was purely by chance and a result of the experience I gained on work placements while still at university. It became a logical career path upon graduation as it gave me the opportunity to make money as a practicing designer. After several years of full time employment I took the step to become a freelance graphic designer which enabled me to focus more on other creative interests including my jewellery. I then applied to continue my studies at Central St Martins as it would provide me with a network of mentors and place me in a stimulating environment to further develop my ideas.

Kate Sibley Necklace

How does your graphic design background influence your jewellery collections?
My decision to work with paper for my latest collection was born out of my desire to question the fast fashion industry and explore sustainable materials and systems. After a year of intensive materials research the logical path took me to the stone paper I use today. Having a deep knowledge of graphics and print enabled me to really explore a unique approach to my jewellery where I had very few restrictions. I could explore, colour, tone, pattern and form in a way that you can’t with traditional jewellery making processes. It also had its problems as it makes it incredibly hard to make decisions when your options are endless so you need to be confident in your ideas and follow them through with conviction.

Kate Sibley Jewellery by Isher Dhiman

Could you tell us a bit more about the ‘Cradle to Cradle’ theory and closed loop systems and the influence they’ve had on your work?
The term Cradle to Cradle refers to a designed system where commercial productivity and sustainability can co-exist and benefit one another. This is achieved by ensuring that products and materials are designed to fit onto a biological and/or a technical system – closed loop. A biological system refers to materials that can harmlessly decompose and return to the earth providing nourishment rather than toxic landfill, whereas a technical system is one based on materials being reprocessed repeatedly without degradation or any loss in quality. Cradle to Cradle has influenced my work greatly. What I like is that it provides a rational and practical solution to a sustainable future whilst celebrating abundance and creativity. Rather than the consumer being half-heartedly encouraged to change their consumer behavior, the ball is firmly in the court of designers and manufacturers to design better products. It is a challenge, but designers like myself thrive on creative challenges.
My current collection is designed with materials that fit within both a biological and a technical cycle.

Kate Sibley Pin
Where do you source the paper from which your current collection is made?
I source the paper from a supplier in Europe as it is not available in the UK.

Kate Sibley Jewellery by Polly Stopforth

Where did you learn to fold so beautifully and by what process do you apply the eye catching patterns and colours on the pieces?
Strangely I’ve always had a fascination with folding paper. I think it’s something to do with pushing a material to its limits and really exploring it’s potential. The techniques and folds I’ve used to produce this collection have all been developed by myself as a way to overcome design issues and to form the shapes and structures I wanted. The colour and patterns are screen printed by myself.

Kate Sibley Necklace
You are the co-director of the design studio Sibley Grove with your husband Jeremy Grove. How do the other design disciplines the studio is involved in impact your jewellery work? Is working with diverse worlds helping your creative juices?
Running the design studio alongside developing my jewellery collections is hard work, but I enjoy it as I thrive on being busy and productive. We work across several disciplines, interior design, architecture, graphics and product, and I find all of these areas inspire my jewellery because they expose me to materials and processes I might not otherwise come across. The jewellery also positively influences the rest of the work our studio does, because it is a platform to be more experimental and try new things, but on a smaller scale.

Kate Sibley Future Jewellery Necklace by Shy Illustrations

In terms of fashion and jewellery design what are your inspirations?
My inspirations for this collection have mainly come from the art deco architecture of downtown Manhattan, where I am particularly attracted to the repeat patterns that are made with tiling, patterns cast into building facades and the forms made by railings and ironwork. In general though, my inspirations can come from anywhere, from the detailing on a train seat, to the beauty of an insects wing.

Kate Sibley Earrings

For your near future collections do you plan to explore more folding techniques and continue the use of ‘paper’ or can you reveal some more sustainable materials you have in mind using?
This collection of earrings will evolve into other shapes and colours, which will be released each fashion season, but all future pieces will fit into the universal earring clasp. I am interested in exploring other ways of printing on and texturing the surface of the paper material, and feel there is great potential to explore this further. I intend for the collection to grow and to release necklaces, bangles and brooches in the future. I am always researching new and interesting materials and have a growing collection which I will certainly experiment with in the future.

Kate Sibley Jewellery by Katie Allen

How could one become the owner of one of your beautiful pieces?
At the moment I am accepting commissions to produce bespoke pieces of any scale. This specific collection will be launched for sale in the new year and you will be able to buy pieces through a number of galleries and shops. You can contact us through our website www.sibleygrove.com, or at studio@sibleygrove.com to be added to our mailing list for further updates, or to talk about commissioning possibilities.

Written by Maria Papadimitriou on Sunday November 11th, 2012 10:08 pm

Categories ,Central Saint Martins, ,colour, ,Cradle to Cradle, ,Designer’s Block, ,Earrings, ,Eco-Design, ,fashion, ,Fast Fashion, ,Folding, ,geometric, ,Gold Leaf, ,goldsmiths, ,Graphic Design, ,Isher Dhiman, ,jewellery, ,Jewellery Collection, ,Kate Sibley, ,Katie Allen, ,Laura Griffin, ,Maria Papadimitriou, ,Necklaces, ,origami, ,paper, ,pattern, ,Polly Stopforth, ,Printing, ,screenprinting, ,Shy Illustrations, ,Sibley Grove, ,Stone Paper, ,Sustainable Fashion, ,Sustainable Materilas

Similar Posts:

Illustration of the Holburne Museum by Hannah Smith

I’ve never been very napkin friendly. By which I mean, at meals, rather than lay one on my lap, I’m substantially more likely to leave myself open for the peril of meal related stains. A little tomato sauce here, some balsamic vinegar there, it all comes out in the wash in the end, right?! Although my napkinophobia is more likely down to remnants of childhood indignation than a genuine dislike of linen, it is with the interest (and hesitation) of a non-napkin user that I attended the Folded Beauty exhibition at the Holburne Museum in Bath to see the artworks of a genuine napkinophile.

Folded Beauty

Joan Sallas is the go-to guy for historic linen folding, and this exhibition is the first of its kind in the UK. Recreating examples of table decorations from high society in days gone by, these pieces offer a glimpse into the elaborate creations of napkin foldings past. Sallas’ interest in the art of textille folding was brought about through a fascination with the Japanese art of paper folding and there’s a definite appeal to this unique art, which Sallas has almost single-handedly revived. Centrepieces in the style of those that graced dinners in Royal European Court way back when make for dramatic art. These banquet-side fabric sculptures are based on designs and patterns that go as far back as Renaissance Italy and as far forward as the 17th Century when this dinner-table decoration practice reached its peak. Whether it’s a pair of doves with their beaks pressed together in comfort, or a griffin towering above the tabletop, the variety and skill in the pieces is the most impressive part of this exhibition. Animals and architecture are just a few of the things recreated through folds in this exhibit. Sallas, a Catalan cartoonist and origami artist, created all these works using ancient techniques and patterns with the help of his lovely assistant and a heavy dose of research.

Taking place between the 2 February 2013 and the 28 April 2013 this exhibition is part of Bath in Fashion and there’s a whole host of other stuff lined up on the calendar for this festival. For more information you can check out my listing for Bath in Fashion here.

Folded Beauty by Gareth A Hopkins

Although before I entered this exhibit I imagined that it might be a little stuffy for Amelia’s, once I’m here, I understand the playfulness of the art form. Napkins and linen are shaped into snakes, tortoises, forts and even mountains as part of this renaissance of the Renaissance art of napkin folding. I’m a sucker for all things cute, and any exhibition that can put a historical context onto a fort filled with bunnies and birds is OK by me. The birds and bunnies are there as a nod to a particular fancy meal in 1593 where live creatures were captured inside a castle decoration and the gates opened so they could escape as the guests entered the room (accompanied by music and fireworks of course).

Folded Beauty

There are children here, I know there must be before I actually see any because I hear a parental voice repeat “don’t touch anything” at least three times in the same number of minutes. As I crouch down to take a photograph of the fabric snake below the main display table a little girl points at the snake conspiratorially and looks at me. “Ssssss,” she hisses and giggles. “Snake,” she says. She presses her hands against the glass and I imagine for a second how she might see the monochrome exhibition: as a Ballroom sized zoo. I hear her mother say one last time “don’t touch anything,” and they are gone.

The exhibition reminds me that fabric has a tang of cardboard-box-possibilities about it. In the same way a simple brown cube can become a space ship, a cave, an oven or even a submarine on a journey to the centre of the earth, these napkins have become creatures, mythical beasts, flowers and (humping) chickens. It reminds me of coming back to a hotel room after a long day at the beach and finding hearts or crocodiles made from towels on your bed. When I was little, a towel-made mother swan and a hand-towel baby signet were smuggled back in a suitcase by my parents for me, they still sit on my dressing table today. Such is the magic of creating something from nothing, and the potential lasting appeal of a fabric creation. Probably because of those two swans, this exhibition resonates with me in an unexpected way.

Folded Beauty by Louise Smith

Working from engravings and records, this virtuoso folder has brought alive, not just the art-form, but the napkins themselves. The centrepiece of this exhibit is a 1.5m high table fountain surrounded by marvelous heraldic beasts. All the elements of the napkin creations that appear in the exhibit are taken from designs from the Baroque era. It’s great insight into the elaborate dinners of ye olden times and a brilliant example of the potential of fabric. There’s even the opportunity to have hands-on group lessons from the artist to shed light into how these wonderful linen beasts are made.

Folded Beauty

When you sit down and write exhibition reviews, you discover that if there’s one thing that museums don’t actually provide all that much of, it’s information. This might sound like a strange observation, but when you’re writing a review, a few sentences hardly seems long enough to satisfy your own interest in a piece, let alone the readers. Especially when museum info sheets have been oversimplified to such a degree you can usually count the facts you’ve learnt on one hand. We leave at closing time and when I ask about the possibility of more information, the staff, all around my age, just look at me slightly flumoxed. “We have postcards,” they say. I politely decline.

Folded Beauty by Karolina Burdon

This show is in partnership with Waddesdon, Nr Aylesbury, Bucks which will host the exhibition from from 22 May to 27 October 2013, meaning that if you’re not located in the Bath area, you might still get a chance to see it. Although the exhibit is moving to a different museum later in the year, once his shows are over Sallas is known for unfolding all his pieces and starting again. This reminds me of short story The Destructors, which I haven’t read, but is infamously mentioned in Donnie Darko. In the story destruction is suggested as its own form of creation. In the same way, the destruction of each of these napkin creations, leads to a new set of wonderful linen beings and objects.

As we exit I fold the exhibition pamphlet in my hands, running my fingers across the paper until it resembles an airplane. I wait for the first gust of wind and I let it go. I don’t look back.

Folded Beauty

The Folded Beauty exhibition at the Holburne is part of Bath in Fashion and is open between 2nd February 2013 and 28th April 2013. This exhibition is free.

Written by Jessica Cook on Tuesday April 2nd, 2013 9:22 pm

Categories ,Bath, ,Bath In Fashion, ,fabric, ,Folded Beauty, ,Folding, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Hannah Smith, ,Holburne, ,jessicasrcook, ,Joan Sallas, ,Karolina Burdon, ,Linen, ,Louise Smith, ,Napkins, ,origami, ,renaissance

Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Jewellery Designer Kate Sibley, talking about her ‘Future Jewellery’ Collection

Similar Posts:

Amelia’s Magazine | Folded Beauty: Masterpieces in Linen, Exhibition Review

Similar Posts: