‘Veronika Fabian brings a sense of narrative to something figurative,’ says Swatch creative director Carlo Giordanetti, of the Central Saint Martin’s BA jewellery student shortlisted for the 2018 Swatch Artwork award. The Hungary-born former banker’s ‘Female Labyrinth’ sculpture – a 3D chainmail tableau representing the stages in a woman’s lifetime – formed part of this week’s ITS 2018. The Trieste-based talent competition for international graduates in fashion, jewellery and accessory design, represents what Giordanetti hails as a ‘a panoramic view of creativity’.
For her final-year graduate project, Fabian worked solely with chains, creating jewellery that evokes different guises of femininity. Take the necklace inspired by a conservative pearl style, but with the individual pearls substituted with coils of chainmail soldered together, left unpolished for that milky finish. Or a bold necklace, constructed from widths of soldered horizontal chain and painted with rebellious tattoo-like details; the lengths then oxidised, leaving an imprint of the image behind. Fabian’s chain transformations – soldered, linked or layered like textiles – make for symbols of elegance and wealth or the tattooed heart-and-anchor markings of a Fifties beauty queen.
‘The single chain transforms into different patterns inspired by life events,’ says the designer of her ITS and Swatch Artwork entry, a freestanding sculpture which represents a map of female maturation. Intricate, silver chain lace suspended in the air, is her visual interpretation of childhood, the outline of a hand holding two oversized links, a marker of marriage, while four dangling orbs of coiled brass and silver chainmail, are imagined as symbols of motherhood.
‘There’s a real sense of irony and drama in Fabian’s work’, says Giordanetti. ‘When we are selecting our finalists the criteria is based on more than a graphic signature like colour. It's also about craftsmanship, or an aesthetic feeling.’ The storytelling labyrinth is also a symbol of the former financier’s own journey, a tableau of the transformative power of creativity.
'Biglink' in gold plated brass
'Female Labyrinth' in brass and silver chains, by Veronika Fabian
'Boobs' in oxidised brass
From left to right, 'Biglink brooch' in gold plated brass; 'Lace brooch' in silver; 'Tie brooch' in brass and 'Tattooed brooch' in oxidised silver
'Pearl' in silver
'Tattooed' in silver plated, oxidised brass
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Swatch, ITS, Veronika Fabian websites
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