One plus one, plus two, plus three ... Applying ancient mathematical sequences derived from nature, jeweller ZOË JAY VENESS unlocks the key to designing perfectly formed objects of adornment. TEXT
Rani Sheen FA S H I O N P H O T O G R A P H Y
Liz Ham J E WE L L E RY P H O T O G R A P H Y
Blue Murder Studios
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orget your nine-carat gold chain and signet ring. Jewellery has just been taken to a whole new dimension, with pieces that twist and loop in a little dance of coloured film or varying tones of paper, so beautifully fluid you would never guess their construction was based on a meticulous numerical sequence. Each item owes its final shape to a strict mathematical code, but the appearance is startlingly poetic. Zoë Jay Veness explains: “The beautiful thing about [working with] numbers is that it’s infinite. This idea I had is absolutely endless. I could do it forever and ever, and in so many different directions. It’s really got me excited, because it’s something I feel like I’ve discovered.” Her relatively simple idea has produced some amazingly intricate confections, but the discovery was more mundane than I had secretly hoped. (I had visions of hours of algebraic research, something akin to the blackboard problem solving in Good Will Hunting.) “[I discovered the idea] about three years ago. Whenever I have an idea, I go straight to paper and make models, to understand what the form is like, and then try to translate it to another material. Working with paper, I was really interested in a connecting system that didn’t require any glue. I just dealt with strips to begin with and by folding them over, I realised I could make patterns, and then in order to design a pattern I really had to measure each loop and make sure that [it was accurate] … It was simply two strips overlapping, then I thought I might thread some wire through to see if I could keep it together, and it just moved on from there.” Far from leaving it at that, Veness then set about researching
the idea of numerical sequences and codes as they exist in our everyday lives, with some surprising and lovely results that add another layer of meaning to her designs. “I lived in a flat in Sydney for so long before we moved [out of the city] a couple of years ago, and we never had a garden. My [new] environment inspires me incredibly; there’s no way I’d be making this work if I was still in Annandale. I became really interested in the mystical system that controls everything out there. The way things grow interests me a lot, so I looked at what’s called the Fibonacci series, a system that was recognised centuries ago; the Greeks were really onto it as well. The series comes out in nature all the time – for example, the relationship between leaves on a branch is in perfect proportion, and you’ll see it in the spirals in shells. I’ve put it through the work because it’s a way of getting some sense of proportion, a formal system. A natural proportion: that’s what I’m fascinated by. It connects everything. And it underpins so much design, especially architecture; really fabulous architecture uses those kinds of principles. Anything that comes from nature is really fundamental, I think.” She prefers to keep a balance between teaching at COFA, some retail commissions and boundary-pushing exhibition work. Her recent assessment exhibition for her Masters in Design (Honours) in Jewellery and Object Design, gave the public the opportunity to view her newest collection, as well as snippets of her work from the past few years. The older pieces are made from a dyed plastic film and resemble imaginary undersea life forms – splayed sea anemones in all shades of the sunset that are retail friendly and instantly attractive to the eye. But it is her current collection that encompasses aesthetic
continued on page 82 ABOVE (FROM BACK) : from the series, Ephemeral Sequence I
Ribbon, Oval, Diamond, Rectangle 2002 drafting film, silver, stainless steel wire (photographed by the artist)
SILVERLIMBO
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