Believing in a simple philosophy that ‘small things make a big difference’, Aelita has created jewellery that celebrates attention to details. Her collection is a purely personal ‘visual diary’ of her recent spiritual experiences that had a strong influence on her. The inspiration comes from mark making discovered whilst she draws at a fast pace. She believes that working intuitively gives a true image of her real feelings and emotions and, as a result, a series of detailed and soulful portraits were created. By extracting mainly eye shapes from them as a symbol of truthfulness of the emotions in an abstract notion, she has created delicate and sensitive work that captures the essence of her mind set in that very moment, allowing her responses to be instinctive and unique.
“My Graduate collection is a ‘visual diary’ of my emotions and experiences at that time. My idea was to juxtapose strength, weakness, and durability.
I used stainless steel to create strong structures and copper crochet to highlight the idea above.
I also incorporated chiffon with printed pages from my diary on it. These pieces of fabric were later pressed in between crocheted sheets, so only traces of it would have been left. ”
Below are some examples of 2D design developments and further model making and brainstorming through materials that led to the construction of the final outcomes.
One of the main and most important techniques for Aelita is crochet. It is a lifelong passion that has been developing since she was a schoolgirl. After successful experiments and transformations, Aelita has found her distinctive personal aesthetic and contemporary way to use this traditional process of crochet, creating jewellery that respects traditions as well as representing the artist’s sentiment. With this collection, Aelita invites the viewer to observe pieces closely, exploring and feeling them without touch, before putting them on the body.
Each piece was carefully constructed on a laser welder machine allowing copper crochet and silver to be assembled together with stainless steel. Some pieces have textile elements that have been sublimated with a print originally taken from diary notes. Later, all components - crochet and textile - were pressed together with a rolling mill, allowing the textile to connect to crochet elements.
The collection was exhibited at the New Designers show in London in June 2016 where it was chosen to be exhibited in Bristol between Jan 2017 and Mar 2017 by Diana Porter Contemporary Jewellery gallery/shop.