All though there are many amazing and fascinating Designers in the world today, After having researched this designer once before, and being a huge fan of her work, I have chosen to do my research paper on Jasmine Watson.
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| 6 Piece Collection Oriental Inspired Enamel Silver Brooch Collection Jasmine Watson |
Jasmine Watson was born and raised in New Zealand, through out her child hood she was greatly influenced by the people around her; although none of them professionally trained her family were very interested in many forms of arts and crafts. From 1992 to 1995, while attending the Unitec School of Design, Watson worked part-time dressing Lucy Lawless and Kevin Sorbo for the Sam Raimi produced Xena: Warrior Princess, and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. [1]This was a great opportunity for her, allowing her to see designs being applied be it jewellery or clothes, Watson relished her time on set. After Graduating, the studio offered her a full time position as costume maker and Jewellery Designer. 4 Years down the line, after the shows had been cancelled Peter Jackson had noted her work in the design world, and hired her to be the Head Jewellery Designer for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Her Jewellery was instantly thrown into the spotlight, as well as herself attracting worldwide media attention, from small TV spots to 3 major motion pictures. When interviewed Watson said “Working on Lord of the Rings has been one of the biggest projects of my career so far, and it has certainly generated a huge amount of positive feedback and interest in my work” Her pieces include Arwens Crown and Evenstar Pendant. After the wrap up of Lord of the Rings, it wasn’t long before her designs were again required; this time Disney hired Watson to be the Head Designer for the Chronicles of Narnia. Watson now works in Workshop 6, in Auckland working and teaching her techniques to a small number of students.
Jasmine Watson, although known for her Jewellery in two major motion picture franchises is a very successful jewellery designer, designing pieces for the general public at affordable prices. The Items I’m focusing on now are a set of brooches. Watson is inspired most by Eastern/Oriental textiles because of the elaborate geometric designs and arrangements [3] She loves to try to recreate this feel in a metal surface, be it in Silver or Gold. And with the huge inspiration of Eastern Materials, another of Watson’s biggest loves is Enamel which she used a lot in her movie jewellery. When manufacturing she either pierces out things by hand for the more hand made look, or casts. She layers and repeats pierced silhouettes to create jewellery that evokes a sense of theatre and occasion.[4] She used plating in some of her jewellery designs for theatre to reduce costs and weight, and her love and use of Enamel has one her many awards including the most prestigious in the field, she won the President award at the 44th Award at the Exhibition of Japan Enamelling Artists Association and the Award for Excellence at the Japan Shippo (Shippo = Enamel) Conference.[2]
These brooches even though sold individually come together to form a set, each one wherever placed connecting to the other with a common design pattern. Each of the brooches when worn individually are beautifully balanced visually, even though each of the three patterns is differing in design, they compliment each other well because of there size. Each one of the “fans” has varying size cut outs, but the overall sense come crossed very balanced. With the enamelling in each of these brooches, the brooch is broken down into two layers, one being the domed background, and the other being the intricate cut design (also slightly domed), which then the two are soldered together. This allows the enamel to be inlayed creating super fine details and multiple colours with clean edges. The obvious love for textile shows in the edges of the brooches, each having an almost lace like border, not allowing them to connect when wearing more than one, but giving a neat finish to the brooch if worn on its own. She uses a limited pallet of colour in her designs, not using the bright harsh colours such as red or yellow, but more muted tones of green and blue. She does use a dark maroon red in each of the brooches which gives a focal point to the piece and is the connecting factor between the set, but even this contrast in colour doesn’t throw the balance of the brooch off, it works well, its accentuated in each of the corners, bringing the eye around the design making it aesthetically pleasing to look at. Even though the Dark Maroon is quite a dominant colour, it doesn’t detract from the design, it only accentuates it. The colours compliment each other well, one not taking over the over, a true unity. When looking at more than one brooch there is a repeating pattern, a play on numerous fan shapes coming together to form circles, almost like a kaleidoscope. Your eyes don’t know where to look, you can follow around the circles with your eyes, and with this there is no sense of confusion or an overwhelming feeling of disorganisation, each of the brooches compliment the other, and with the injection of purple into one of the brooches, it gives a feeling of warmth with what are predominantly cool colours. The space between each of the “fan” patterns in equal and filled with a colour not used in rest of the brooch, bringing the piece together, rather than separate elements making up an object. The Brooches are made from prodominantly geometric shapes, there are no soft lines. This is needed in her designs to show the high amount of detail in her work with enamel. Though the patterns are repeated in each brooch, with alternate colours making them different, they are a well thought out and unusual design. References/Footnotes:
[1] www.carlotta-wwwsplendor.blogspot.com/.../jasmine-watson.html[2] www.fingers.co.nz/exhibitors/jasmine_watson.htm
[3] www.workshop6.co.nz/Tutors
[4] http://www.workshop6.co.nz/Tutors/
(other references to be added, computer constantly crashed)
Bibliography: | References: |
Internet Images: | Images used: |
“Fingers” Online forum for contemporary New Zealand Jewellers http://www.fingers.co.nz/exhibitors/jasmine_watson.htm | Image One of Seven, 7 Silver and Enamel Brooches, By Jasmine Watson (Date accessed: 28th May 2011) |
“Fingers” Online forum for contemporary New Zealand Jewellers http://www.fingers.co.nz/exhibitors/jasmine_watson.htm | Image Three of Seven, 7 Silver and Enamel Brooches, By Jasmine Watson (Date accessed: 28th May 2011) |
Internet Articles/Blogs/Pages | References used: |
“Fingers” Online forum for contemporary New Zealand Jewellers http://www.fingers.co.nz/exhibitors/jasmine_watson.htm | Online forum exhibiting jewellery of local artists and jewellers in New Zealand (Date accessed: 29th May 2011) |
“Jasmine Watson Jewellery” Kiwi Jewellery Designer, Official Website http://www.jasminewatson.com/ | Profile (Date accessed: 29th May 2011) |
“A Celebration Of Jewellery Designers” http://carlottawwwsplendor.blogspot.com/2009/05/jasmine-watson.html | General History – Designer Jasmine Watson. (Date accessed: 26th May 2011) |
“Contemporary Jewellery Gallery Website for New Zealand Jewellery Designers” http://www.quoil.co.nz/artists/jasmine_watson/ | General Examples of Jewellery, Brief History – Jasmine Watson (Date accessed: 28th May 2011) |
Excellent! Naomi.
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