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a message to tell

in 2009, Finnish artist Janna Syvanoja created a collection of eco-jewellery made from paper and steel wires. becoming a jeweller was a complete accident as she was never trained in jewellery design and was merely making shapes with shredded newspapers and telephone directories. till now, in her artist statement, she says she doesn’t ‘design’ — all she does is “curv[e] each slice of paper around the steelwire, one by one, one after another, it is as if the piece grows into its shape by itself”. this gives her jewellery a truly organic feel as the paper sculptures recover and preserve the “character of wood… [and its] association to the whole organic world, the way it builds itself, being in constant change, traveling in time.”

it is also apt that she uses materials like newspapers and telephone directories as her materials for making her jewellery, not only because of its soft and moldable quality, but also because these texts, upon being printed, have also their date of expiry determined — they are relevant only for a specific time period and are outdated thereafter. yet, despite the transience, they are irrevocably the most accessible texts and prove to be important for communicating information. her eco-jewellery, thus, capture the spirit of recycling and communicate to us its importance — that so much go to waste everyday (unknowingly and inevitably), and with it, the multitude of potential these materials have. so why not throw less and make more beauty?

i would imagine these pieces to be statement-making because of the sculptural form and the interesting texture but essentially comfortable to wear because they’re made of lightweight paper — unlike acrylic sculptural jewellery.

Syvanoja also makes other jewellery from found pieces of junk but this collection is probably her best known one.

images: Charon Kransen Arts

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