Generic Ethnic, group exhibition at Arbor, Melbourne, 2015

Immortal Inti Earrings

18ct yellow gold, sterling silver oxidised and gold plated

As an avid admirer of ethnic jewellery and the jewellery art of ancient civilisations, I was inspired to create pieces that explored multiple time-honoured jewellery making techniques, rather than focusing solely on one technique. Fusing metal, stamping and granulation were chosen for their ability to express tactility, texture and the hand of the maker, all of which are inherent in the characteristics of ethnic jewellery.

As far back as 5,000 years, in the 3rd Millennium BC, granulation was being used to perfection by the Etruscan civilisation (present day Italy), and the Mesopotamians (modern Iraq) were favouring jewellery techniques of granulation, engraving, and spiral formations. The Celts later specialised in continuous patterns and designs, working predominantly in silver.

But it was the Mesoamericans who most strongly informed this work. The Aztec, Mayan and Incan civilisations held a Paganistic preoccupation with counting the cycles of the Sun, Moon and planets, and were known for their worship of a Sun God (Inti), to whom they made regular, ritualistic offerings.  The spiral forms I've chosen to use mimic this devotion to Sun worship, as does the use of gold - a symbol of immortality, wealth and status in many ancient cultures.

Stamping, repetitive patterning and imprinting on metal has also been explored for centuries, and the repetition in these pieces is directly inspired by the tribal markings of the Berber and Amazigh tribes of northern Africa.

 The earrings are designed with regal perfection in mind - fit for a divine deity. The refined design, incorporating noble golden tones and concise, controlled detailing represent how the ancient cultures of the Etruscans, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans, Mesopotamians, and Mesoamericans viewed jewellery - as a symbol of power, wealth, status and beauty. A relic of the elite and influential.