The confident alliance of silver and gold
- Jessica's work in silver and gold is about sculpture and aesthetic
- She lets the metal guide her towards the final design
- One of her pieces, the Everflowing sculpture, is in the Silver Galleries at the V&A Museum
Jessica Jue was brought up in Vienna, studied in Edinburgh and Japan and now lives in London. It was in Japan that she embraced the sculptural possibilities of silversmithing, when she discovered hammer work and large scale sculptural pieces. After an intense year on a post-graduate course in silversmithing at Bishopsland Educational Trust in England, Jessica decided to set up her studio at The Goldsmiths’ Centre in the heart of London’s historical jewellery making district. Her father was a calligrapher and this cultural heritage has influenced her work's aesthetic. "As a child, I watched my father’s emphasis and fluidity in brushstrokes. The certainty and elegance of a line has become the core ethos of my work," explains Jessica.
INTERVIEW
Both of them move like butter and I love the way they feel in my hands and what I can do to them. There are endless possibilities of finishes and forms, and they marry very well together.
I am quite fluid with my process. I often go straight into the material itself with a vague idea in mind. The process of the hammer work is as though dictated to me by the piece itself. It tells me the design as opposed to me trying to design the piece.
I think it comes with just looking at the piece over and over again. Sometimes I leave it for a week or two to make sure I do not overwork it. Returning to it with a fresh pair of eyes allows me to see whether it is not finished or I am happy with it.
I use a lot of traditional silversmithing techniques but I developed my own take on the techniques to translate them into contemporary designs. Where forms are not based on function and utility, they end up purely sculptural and unexpected.
