Melancholia. Small items that stir up emotions and have special meanings.

4 November 2015

910

Historically, jewelry served symbolic, magical functions and determined social status. On the other hand, jewelcrafting is related to workmanship, artistry and considerable technical proficiency. Long time ago, court jewelers had a status of artists, e.g. Benvenuto Cellini. Melancholia is a brand based on a concept, which talks about symbolic thinking, something diminishing in our culture. “Melancholy is a state of destruction, from which new values emerge. It appears in alchemy as one of the parts of transmutation a metal into gold. It’s a phase of total decomposition of substance, which integrates all over again. It’s an accurate metaphor of jewelry technology that we use – we cast noble metals so we can form them into a shape designed by us. But that’s not all. (…)”

I have exchanged a lot of mails with the designers, Daria and Maciek. I learned that they both graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, where she’s currently pursing a Ph.D. Professionally, they busy themselves with graphic designs and artistic activities. They don’t have a division between work and free time. Time spent in their workshop is a time spent on designs, as well as time spent with friends. That’s where they spend most of their days, but they also enjoy the city life. However, their interests differ – Daria’s passion is philosophy, which she studied and still loves to get back to the old readings. Maciek is fascinated with socio-political matters, but cycling trips are also very important for him. They also described to me the process of jewelry production in great detail. They like to talk about it and I really enjoy listening to it. It’s good to be aware that behind the collections, there’s a magnitude of human labor, which requires knowledge and experience. Are you curious to know how Melancholia jewelry is created? Keep on reading.

Designs are created in a virtual environment. When the draft is ready, we make a 3D prototype on a very precise, stereolithographic printer (rapid prototyping). It builds a model from very thin layers of a special resin, hardened by laser. The ready prototype is analyzed on the basis of execution. Sometimes designers implement changes in the design and create a new prototype. After approving it, it undergoes manual crafting, because during the next phase it will serve as a mastermodel – a perfect model, which serves as a basis for next products. The mastermodel gets submerged in a special jewelry gum – after being cut, the gum becomes a form where wax is inserted. A wax model is built which can be copied as many times as you want. The was models are gathered in a so called cast tree. Next, it’s placed in a casting sleeve, filled with gypsum and put into a furnace, where the wax is smelted. A gypsum form is created, which is placed in a mold. The vacuumed mold is filled with metal. That’s how a mold is created with a vacuum forming technique. The molds are removed from the sleeve and cleaned of gypsum. After that, they are mechanically and manually processed. The next step is assembly, soldering, gem studding, finally polishing, and, in some cases, gilding. What’s really fascinating is that this entire complex process is an ancient technique used by the Etruscan civilization. Today, we have super advanced technology and computerized equipment, but the principal remains the same.

The designers steer clear of a literal and intrusive translation of content to form. Buying Melancholia jewelry you’re richer by an item, but also by an entire story that it offers. Their collections aren’t restricted to women: “We believe that masculinity and femininity are archaic categories, which are bound to fade into oblivion.” I really like this attitude, after all jewelry can be a personal metaphor.

I feel head over heals! I have to say I don’t easily get seduced. 😉 I’ve added Melancholia to the list of my favorite jewelry by Polish designers. I like to surround myself with magic. There’s so little left around.