Due to an injury I sustained several months ago I find myself on "modified work". No repeated or heavy grasping with either hand for me so metalsmithing is definitely out. This idea of modified work paired with my recent attendance at the SNAG 2009 conference (where alternative materials took the main stage) has started the wheels a turning. What will the future of contemporary jewelry bring us and has everything really already been done?
My first intuition is to look into paper. Paper has always been an affinity of mine, my mother laughed when I used that word instead of "obsession". From a very early age I would beg my mom to take me into the paper stores where I would spend a ridiculous amount of time touching every stationary set and journal in sight, agonizing over what to choose as my one and only purchase. To this day I have a large section of the guest room closet devoted to my paper finds, each sheet waiting for the moment that I will find just the right project or occasion for its use. Nothing is better than paper. The smell, the texture, the endless possibilities of creative outcomes that could result from every piece.
So today I start my research. What are people doing with paper today, how can I modify those ideas and bring my own personality and paper obsession onto the scene of contemporary jewelry? Only time will tell and in the interim take a look at what's going on now in the world of paper and design:
Who knew there was a university dedicated to paper!
http://www.tappi.org/paperu/welcome.htm
Interested in making some paper beads?
http://www.astorybooklife.com/how-to/paper-beads/
Paper in contemporary art:
http://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/FrancescaVitali
Those are just a few of the resources I've found in a very brief search into the world of paper design. I can't wait to see where this epiphany takes me, and I can't help but wonder, what took me so long...
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