Rising RCA Jewellery & Metal Stars Shine at Theo Fennell

Discussing the exhibition, Jonathan Boyd, acting Head of Programme for Jewellery & Metal said: ‘We are very grateful for the longstanding support of Theo Fennell. This exhibition and award is a fantastic opportunity for the students to showcase their work to new audiences and gain insights through close links with industry. The works selected are indicative of the diversity of practices supported by the Jewellery & Metal MA Programme and the range of perspectives, tools and techniques that students bring from their individual backgrounds and specialisms to explore the field of contemporary object culture.’ 

Sadi Yetkili was awarded the Best Conceptual prize for his project ‘The Speech of Loss’, which explores how grief and mourning can be expressed through the balance of mass and void within jewellery and everyday objects. ‘Every day we risk losing our values, history and memories in the constant change life offers,’ wrote Sadi, who was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, and studied BA Sculpture at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Istanbul, before coming to the RCA. ‘As this repeating cycle of life and loss continues, we find ourselves in the realm of in-between emotions that are linked to both life and death, such as grief.’

Initially trained as a graphic designer at Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne in Switzerland, Joanne Guiraud is a jewellery designer and maker based in London. Joanne was awarded Best Design for her final MA project, which features handmade works created through practical process and experimentation to explore the erogenous world, seeking the right balance between power and fragility. Her practice is influenced by body awareness and questions notions of femininity, pleasure and intimacy.

Writing about her practice, Joanne stated: ‘I want to create something that exists between the seen and the unseen, the private and the public, the real and the imagined. An erotic place mixed with darkness and lightness, which expresses the preciousness of intimacy, the subtlety of a feeling, the boldness of the body.'

Kathleen Reilly is a Scottish metalsmith and interdisciplinary maker based in London. Prior to studying at the RCA, Reilly studied BA (Hons) Silversmithing & Jewellery at Glasgow School of Art. She won the Overall Excellence prize for her project ‘the kitchen is the gallery is the kitchen’. The collection of subversive tableware stemmed from her conflicting desires to make both functional products and artistic sculptures.

‘My show developed from an interest in the edge,’ Kathleen wrote, ‘resulting in a broader understanding of in-between space, liminality and points of transition. Everyday experiences of the edge were recorded poetically to create tangible works. Words were picked in which associations could be made to remove myself from the original scenario allowing juxtapositions to form such as the sole of a shoe and a lemon sole.’

Full details of the exhibition can be found here.

Find out more about the Jewellery & Metal MA Programme and how to apply.