Yearly Archives: 2009

gesine hackenberg: table talk

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Over the weekend I started setting up our new kitchen, unpacking cooking and eating essentials along with special pieces that have sentimental value, like my grandmother’s carnival glass fruit bowl.

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{I’ll post pictures of the kitchen when it is finished, but you can see up-to-date pictures of the remodel progress on my Facebook page}

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Red Wine/White Wine Rummer Brooch, Finnish table glass, silver, steel needle

The kitchen is often the heart of a home, and most of us have powerful memories that include a dish, pitcher or bowl that held center court in the kitchens of our childhood. My grandmother’s iridescent orange bowl always makes me smile, bringing back memories that span three generations each time I use it.

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Grip Brooch, earthenware, silver

Gesine Hackenberg creates jewelry with a focus on the themes of household, kitchen, table and food culture. In the Still Life Collection, Hackenberg takes glass from tableware and turns it into brooches with silhouette shapes of drinking glasses and bowls. The simple shapes and beautiful pairing of colors make for bold statement pieces to wear, but I also like the idea of a grouping of these framed for the wall.

Hackenberg’s earlier work included simple shapes punched from antique ceramics. Wonder if she takes custom orders? The photography is brilliant – really helps to put the work in perspective when you look at it next to the plate or bowl that it came from. Enjoy the images – I have to get back to my unpacking.

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Red Ring, earthenware, silver

“I’m fascinated by the aspect of personal preciousness revealed in all kinds of belongings. Especially in objects that seem to find a place close and near to the body. I explore how these pieces can relate to the body and examine this relationship through its connection.” Gesine Hackenberg

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Big Makkum Kitchen Necklace, earthenware, thread

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Glass Bowls, brooches, finnish table glass, silver, palladium needle

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yes and no

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margaux lange re-members barbie

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As a child Margaux Lange was obsessed with Barbie, using the doll as a tool for “acting out and exploring the human relationships in my own life, as well as the fantasy lives I imagined.” Now 30 years old, Lange is still obsessed with Barbie and it has served her well. The Brooklyn artist, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art, uses Barbie doll parts in her widely collected jewelry line, “Plastic Body Series.”

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lange_smack

SMACK! Brooch, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver

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The Kiss, doll parts, sterling silver

“Whether revered or despised, there are few who feel neutral about the plastic princess. I am fascinated with who she is as a cultural icon and the vast impact she has had on our society.” Margaux Lange

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Goosebumps Hand Brooch, doll parts, sterling silver

Lange takes Barbie’s best bits and combines them with resin and sterling silver, creating whimsical, nostalgic, humorous configurations that offer collectors a unique way to remember their childhoods.

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Quote Bubble Brooches, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver

She began using Barbie in her art in high school, but it wasn’t until 2001 that she started to deconstruct (or re-member as she likes to call it) the iconic doll and use the parts in her jewelry.

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If The Shoe Fits Bracelet, doll shoes

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Senses Bracelet, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver

Fun. Fashionable. And a trip down memory lane.  Do go and take a look at her whole portfolio and be sure to visit her blog where you can get a good sense of the work that goes into this jewelry.

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Winged Neckpiece, doll arms, sterling silver

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Margaux Lange and friends

I also enjoy the funny juxtaposition of wearing the body, on the body. Barbie has become the accessory instead of being accessorized. I take pleasure in the contrast and contradiction of mass-produced materials transformed and revealed as handmade, wearable works of Art.” Margaux Lange

When I was researching Lange I was surprised to see that many people find the jewelry creepy and ‘out of a horror movie’. Really? Lange has a great eye, appealing sense of humor and all of her skills blend beautifully. What’s creepy is how long women have held on to the idea that Barbie had the perfect body. THAT’S creepy. Lange’s jewelry? Smashing and fashionable!

Lange’s Etsy shop here.

Lange’s blog Midge’s Mind where you can see many of her pieces in progress – the resin, the metalsmith details, the bins and bins of Barbie bits and pieces.  Wow…

Read an interview with the artist here. Another interview here.

Couldn’t resist including Lange’s Barbie coat hanger ornament.  Click on the thumbnail below to see more ornaments.

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bruce mau’s incomplete manifesto for growth

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I’m switching it up a bit today.  Take a break from the visual feast you usually find here and read Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto For Growth. In 1998 Mau, a design visionary and global innovator, wrote a document that consolidated his beliefs, strategies and motivations -  43 ideas and suggestions that he and his design team use as they approach every project.  I’m sure you’ve heard some of them before, but they are so good that they are worth repeating often.

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Here are three that resonated with me today:

#9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

#28. Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

#39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms. Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces – what Dr. Seuss calls “the waiting place.”

Read the rest of them here.  Which ones got your attention today?

via Tejae’s Art
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paper and twig lamp

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