A graduate of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Tine De Ruysser moved to London to pursue an MA at the Royal College of Art where she is currently finishing her PhD.
While attending her jewellery design courses, inspired by Dutch artist Nel Linssen and keeping firmly in mind Paco Rabanne and Issey Miyake’s work, De Ruysser developed interesting projects based on folding metallic materials, pioneering an electroforming technique and creating wearable origami pieces like sculptural copper and polyester capes and bracelets that can be turned into bags.
The artist based on the same principle a project originally designed for a Bank of America exhibition: banknotes were created to replace gold, so, De Ruysser wondered, why not reusing them to make jewellery pieces?
Opening her own workshop and collaborating with other artists in an academic environment are among De Ruysser’s future plans. In the meantime, she is also focusing on new pieces to showcase at the “Collect 2010” exhibition, opening in May at London’s Saatchi Gallery.
What prompted you to become a jewellery designer and specialise in this field?I first started studying product design, but, realising product designers don’t get to make the things they design, after one year I stopped and changed to jewellery design since this discipline allows you to develop and make your own things.
How did you come up with your trademark fold up technique?
During a long journey through my jewellery courses, it sort of happened accident after accident. The first accident happened while I was enrolled in my course at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Antwerp: I started folding paper there and created one folding pattern. During my MA at the Royal College of Art I made the folding material in metal but, since I hadn’t done it in the right way, I decided to go back and pursue a PhD to develop and improve it.
Do you feel that architecture influences your work?
That’s probably subconscious since my father is an architect and we used to travel around when we went on holiday looking at different buildings. I guess that architectural inspirations also enter my work because origami patterns are geometric, architectural and characterised by mathematical rules.
What fascinates you about the folding and pleating techniques?
What I really like about the former is that you can take a flat sheet of material and, by folding it, turn it into something three-dimensional, so it becomes more interesting and acquires an extra flexibility. It’s surprising and almost impossible to show this in the pictures, but the movements of the material, the way it moves when you pick it up and wear it, are actually the part of the design that I like best.
What inspired the banknote jewellery?
The first piece I made in that series was created for an exhibition at the Bank of America in London. I decided to do something with dollars as a comment on our times and that started it all up. I made one piece for that exhibition, but then I realised there was much more to investigate, so I started creating more pieces.
Do you conceive your accessories as jewels or as wearable pieces of art?
Ever since I started my course in Antwerp I’ve been taught that jewellery, and the way contemporary jewellery is made, especially if you go to an art school, can be compared to making a wearable work of art. I think that jewellery is art that you wear, and, while the concept is important, the final piece must be beautiful and wearable.
Which pieces do you prefer, the wearable ones or the conceptual ones?
I sometimes think I have a split personality since I love them both. I really like the metallic foldable shapes which don’t have much of a concept, but focus on form, movement and material, but I also like the most conceptual pieces. The banknote jewellery collection is a favourite of mine at the moment.
Is there an artist or a designer who inspires you in your work?
There are several people: Nel Linssen was very important for me, since she inspired me to start working with paper and then everything evolved from there. From a fashion perspective I guess innovators such as Paco Rabanne or Issey Miyake with his pleated pieces and collections are very important for my work.
You showcased your pieces at Flow Gallery in London and at Galerie Handwerk in Munich, will you be at any fashion/art events in the next few months?
I’m making new work for the "Collect 2010" exhibition at Saatchi Gallery. Being part of all these different events is fantastic, it’s sort of what I dreamt of doing one day and I’m honoured that people like my work well enough to want to show it in these places. At Collect I’ll probably be exhibiting objects for the table.
Is there a material you would like to experiment with one day?
I’d like to use glass, but not for jewellery pieces. I’ve been working on objects made using plywood and textiles, to create folded metallised objects in wood that retain a certain degree of flexibility. I’m actually experimenting with the latter at the moment to see how I can use this material at its best.
What are your plans for the future?
Once I finish my PhD I would like to teach, have my own workshop and make my own designs, possibly collaborating also with other artists in this sort of context. I really enjoy being in an educational environment and being able to communicate with other people and learning from them.
How many collections do you design every year?
I don’t really want to join the fashion rush with two collections a year, I am a jewellery designer, not a fashion designer and, while I would like to provide pieces every now and then for a catwalk show, I do not intend to follow the routine of two collections a year. I would prefer to go my way and let people get back to me when they feel like it.
Where can we buy your pieces?
The easiest way is to go to a gallery and buy them, but if you want to buy a piece and you’re not near a gallery, you can always contact me through my site.
Tine De Ruysser's work will be showcased at the Galerie Handwerk, Munich, from 23rd April to 5th June 2010, and at the "Connect 2010" event, Saatchi Gallery, London, from 14th to 17th May 2010.
All images in this post are taken from Tine De Ruysser's site.
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