Jewelry for me is more than precious metals. I am interested in the inherent expressions and qualities of all materials. I often use silver for purely practical reasons – silver is an excellent raw material, easy to work with, relatively inexpensive and commercially marketable.
But I also have a passion for ugly, disdained, overlooked materials such as recycled cans and polymer clay (moldable plastic). I want the choice of material to surprise, amuse and disturb.
Recyling also means that the material has a history, a narrative that I only need to build upon. I want there to be a certain dissonance in my work because I dislike that which is too clean and austere.
Production jewelry is often conceived through play. I seldom begin with a complete idea of how the final piece should look, and instead play with the technique or material in order to find a possible result. I am attracted to pattern, repetitions and visual rhythms.
Occasionally jewelry is more than jewelry. My art jewelry always begins with content which then decides the form of the finished piece. In this work I plan nearly every detail in advance. This work is often complicated, time-consuming, and both physically and mentally exhausting.
At its best my jewelry is intelligent, funny, sweet, cocky, and disrespectful – like me (at my best).