The title of the lecture is also the title of a fictitious book by Lin Cheung and illustrates her desire to explore and discover more about jewellery, instead of presuming to have all the answers. Lin Cheung claims she makes jewellery and objects out of a fascination with the jewellery and objects we already own and with what they reveal about human nature. She gets inspired by her ‘observations of life’. This often raises questions from others when she talks about her work. Lin Cheung explained how she works around the social, cultural and personal bond between jewellery pieces and their owners, and how she visualizes the hidden values perceived in jewellery and objects. A fork and spoon, which, after slight alterations, turn into a vanity kit, are among of the many illustrations of this aspect of her work. When she joined a research group to re-use and re-evaluate redundant items from a British silverware and flatware manufacturer in Sheffield, she forgot to pack her vanity kit. Even though they were not designed as vanity items, Lin Cheung, out of a sense of playfulness and necessity, saw other uses for the available objects.
Apart from designing independently, Lin Cheung also observed that she seeks ways to work with others. Due to their shared interest in designing jewellery from a very personal perspective, she invited Laura Potter to collaborate with her on the commissioned ‘museumaker’ project. This vast project was spread over 16 museums in the UK and lasted two years. Laura Potter and Lin Cheung worked with MIMA, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, whose curator, James Beighton, driven by his interest in jewellery, brought contemporary jewellery into a museum of modern art! Their ‘Pas de Deux’ project focused on the interaction between MIMA and the residents of Middlesbrough. Lin Cheung explained that they organised a workshop for interested residents to understand the scope and range of contemporary jewellery. They were asked to carve, from memory, a personal piece of jewellery into cuttlefish-shell, which acted as a casting mould. In order to cast pewter, the cuttlefish-shell carvings were backed by wood. These wooden backings were beautifully burn-marked and taken home by the participants. Lin Cheung revealed that the results in cast pewter were displayed in the museum, while one amongst them was cast in gold. They were all painted blue, just like the Middlesbrough transporter bridge, matching the story of the one gold rivet hidden in the structure of the bridge.
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Lin Cheung continued her lecture by explaining that the project became more personal when they had chosen two participants for whom to commission a jewel. The first was 18-year-old Charlotte, who loved the museum’s minerals and gold-coloured pieces. In order to express her youth and therefore her predisposition to change, Lin Cheung said they cast the equal monetary value of carob-seeds (an ancient measuring tool for gold) into silver beads (251) and gold beads (4). Charlotte was given the gold ones, while the museum exhibited the silver beads. However, Charlotte can choose whether she prefers to wear the gold or silver beads, and exchange them as often as she likes throughout her life. The museum agreed to be accommodating and a legal contract was drafted and signed by all parties and is displayed beside the beads of the museum. Charlotte’s beads were stored in a box with wire and pliers, so she can shape her own jewel.
The second participant chosen by Laura Potter and Lin Cheung was Lucinda, who was in her mid-forties. Of the pieces in the museum, she was fascinated by the scrimshaw bone artwork depicting a ship. (Scrimshaw is a technique of bone-carving, filled in with ink to reveal the image.) As a very busy and fully shaped personality, Lin Cheung explained that they chose to focus on all of Lucinda’s many activities. After some experimenting, her commissioned jewel developed into a brooch with interchangeable bone discs. The scrimshaw images on the bone discs were taken from various books on Lucinda’s interests. When not worn, the bone disc can be stored in the cut-out circle of the matching image in each book. The museum counterpart of this brooch was made out of scrimshaw bone discs, with the ISBN numbers of each one of Lucinda’s books. All were stored in just one book: The New Jewelry, by Peter Dormer and Ralph Turner.
Lin Cheung concluded her lecture by elaborating on her strong connection to jewellery in the context of projects and commissions. Her design for the Paralympic medal is a very topical example. She explained that she was chosen to further develop her idea from over 100 artists, of which hers evolved into the winning design. Combining Nike, the Goddess of Victory, depicted on the front of the Olympic medal, and the Paralympic message in the design of the medal, Lin Cheung said the front represents ‘Spirit in motion’, through a close-up illustration of Nike’s outstretched wings. For the back of the medal she took a mould from the area of the heart of a London-based plaster cast of Nike of Paionios to serve as the representation of the ‘heart of victory’.
Text: Broes van Iterson
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