Unique Designs of Jewelry Art

Indonesian contemporary jewelry art should be positioned parallel with other contemporary art branches.

Teks Darma Ismayanto

Jewelry is not simply ornaments and accessories for the body. The jewelry is multi-functional and has various meanings that able to express something that related to someone’s identity, story, or fond memory, and the jewelry artist’s conscience that wished to be expressed through his/her creation of jewelry works.”

It was the introduction in Alvi Lufiani’s jewelry art works exhibition that held in Bentara Budaya Yogyakarta on last April 24-28, 2009. In the exhibition that called ”Why Not Jewelry,” the artist that graduated from ISI Yogyakarta and University of Oregon, USA was exhibiting tens of jewelry art works.

”The jewelry that I design, particularly with the Indonesian traditional pattern, is aimed especially at the Indonesian youth, and the use of classical pattern does not make our works look ancient or oldfashioned,” continued Alvi.

Moreover, it would look refreshing with unlimited and free creativity, idea, and imagination. The use of classical pattern, with well-prepared concept, could represent an up to date contemporary jewelry art work, added Alvi.

Alvi’s works that exhibited indeed looked luxurious and unique. The materials that easily found in Indonesia, such as silver, wrought iron, plastic, and wood have been modified through Alvi’s imaginative and creative process.

The simple forms, such as hammer, meat-knife, spoon, ring, kuda lumping (hoarse made of skin of animal), and butterfly have been modified into miniatures. Alvi also designed peculiar brooches with such shapes so that the hammer, meat-knife, or spoon would still look beautiful on the clothes.

Various kinds of rings were also interesting although their sizes were not proportional with the fingers that wore them. The ”Screen Ball,” for example, the ring that made of rubber and silver has an elliptical shape and fitted in the handful of an adult.

Another unique ring was ”Horizontal,” the thin and a 3-adult finger width ring. Whereas, the ”Cat Eyes” and ”Balloon” used the materials that could be found in our daily lives, such as plastic and cable clamp.

There was also the ”Couple ring” that made of silver. They were a pair of rings that ”cut” into two pieces so that they looked like a split-level house. When a pair of rings was put back together, it would return to be an intact form. According to Yul, in this exhibition, Alvi offered something new about contemporary jewelry in the country, which has not been touched and seen by people during this time.

Source: arti magazine june 2009, 16th edition