Redefining Luxury: two bodies of silver objects designed to interrogate luxury objects
- Submitting institution
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De Montfort University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32065
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
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- Brief description of type
- Multi-component output: a collection of creative work on a related topic that address different aspects of a single project and are collectively greater than the sum of their parts
- Open access status
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- Month
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- Year
- 2016
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- My research examines functionality, traditional craft skills and design innovation in silver. It is motivated by the move of silver objects from the predominantly utilitarian towards more decorative and sculptural use as art objects with little or no physical interaction with the viewer or user. The work challenges craft experts to embrace different cultures and emphasize the materiality of silver and human contact. At its heart is the notion of re-consumption and re-conception of silver objects.
‘Ice Tea for One’, is a series of teapots exhibited internationally, intended for dispensing and drinking iced tea. The research responds to the rich historical and cultural relationship that sterling silver has associated with British heritage. ‘Ice Tea for one’ engages in discourse with traditional tea drinking, and plays with the notion of silver as a functional and decorative commodity. The research has made significant contributions to the craft of making and the craft of using 'intimate' precious metal objects. It redirects attention from multiple and mass reproduction to the uniqueness and one-off qualities of the teapots.
Blue, White, Black,Yellow and Silver series are all part of the Architect Series, an ongoing body of work that introduces an emerging aesthetic focused on indexical materiality to understate silver. Coloured powder coating disguises and blurs distinctions between original and fake, commodity and materiality or immateriality in the context of the circulation and consumption of artisanal luxury objects. It raises questions of authenticity by reversing the notion of ‘added value' in conversion between measurable and immeasurable value. Here I achieve the opposite effect of wealth and power with an optical illusion by using non-precious powder coating to give the impression of a 'modest' approach to the consumption of luxury.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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