Around three years ago, after finishing her studies, Yafit Ben Meshulam started developing her own glossary to enrich the language of jewellery. Her first pieces combined experimental materials: she played with brass and sponge, creating modular bracelets that could be disassembled into a pair of earrings and a bracelet, then developed pieces with copper, enamel and raffia; she also juxtaposed silicone and fabrics, trying to find new solutions to combine the former with embroidered elements and threads. Often Meshulam walked the fine line between conceptual and wearable pieces, coming up with a modular collar that could be donned by two people at the same time, to join them in a symbolic gesture; she created fragile and angular brooches with metal and plastic segments and used fabric and metals to design pieces that called to mind broken cocoons.
The main aim and objective of Yafit Ben Meshulam's design practice was already clear in "Nice Chock" (2011), an aluminum, brass and rubber bracelet that perfectly fits to the wearer's arm, and can be anchored to it via a clamp system that looks borrowed from industrial design or from a manufacturing plant.
Two years ago Yafit Ben Meshulam created her own brand, Lacuna, and took the concept of industry Vs craft further by designing pieces inspired by futurism and primitivism.
In her latest collection - "Appear & Disappear" - she has focused on organic and abstract shapes, adding an industrial twist to them by combining 3D printing techniques with metals, resin or embroidered elements. Some pieces such as the necklaces are larger; others such as her multiple brooches or earrings are smaller and can be employed to subtly and stylishly decorate the body.
Yafit Ben Meshulam's jewellery pieces have so far been featured in many different exhibitions, proving that there is currently a lot of attention for designs made with unconventional materials that can be used to decorate the wearer's body or can be interpreted as real (and affordable) works of art.
Can you tell us more about your background and studies?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: I live and create in Tel Aviv and have a B.DES degree from the Department of Jewelry Design of Shenkar College. I completed my studies about three years ago and, in the following year, I felt ready to develop a line of products that connected my private world, art, and products that communicate about the surrounding environment. And so, two years ago Lacuna was created.
What prompted you to become a jewellery designer and what do you love about this career?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: Like most artists and designers, I found myself interested in and creating art from a young age. Excited by a course I took in jewelry design, I started working in this field and continued to study it formally. When I first started being interested in making jewelry, I was covered in jewelry from head to toe, but the studies at Shenkar changed my perceptions. One original and intriguing piece of jewellery is indeed much more interesting than too many. Through jewellery I can express myself in countless colours, textures and materials. Jewellery can be flexible, fragile, light, heavy, shiny, matte, and...well, the list could go on forever!
The abstract shapes of some of your jewellery pieces make me think a lot about other disciplines, such as art, science and architecture: do you ever feel inspired by them?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: I draw inspiration from every soft sculptural shape that I encounter. It can be from architecture or it can be my shampoo bottle. I am interested mainly in the meeting point between organic shapes and industry.
You use ceramics but silver as well, do you have a favourite material?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: Any material that serves my purposes and my dreams will be my favourite. Metal is absolutely the optimal material for making jewelry, for the simple reason that you can do anything with it. But I find myself fascinated with and curious about different materials and techniques each time.
Can you take us behind the making of the new collection: was it challenging to create the 3D printing technique for these pieces?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: Printing with ceramic powder is not common in the world of jewelry. The place I work with creates large architectural models and was not accustomed to working in these proportions. Since this is a new material for me, I had to study it and learn about it and went through quite a lot of trials and attempts until I reached the correct thickness. There is no doubt that alongside the challenges of working with a new material, there is also a curiosity that drives and motivates me to continue until things are right.
Do you feel your designs are the result of a balancing act between two forces such as craft and technology? And in case which handmade techniques fascinate you the most?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: The inspiration for this new collection deals exactly with this and it is from here that the integration between these things comes. There is my own personal conflict in this collection: on the one hand I really connect with a more simple, natural world, using the process of creating as a form of therapy and getting some distance from the technological overload we are all subjected to, but, on the other hand, the temptation to surrender to technology is great. The combination of advanced technologies with craftsmanship has led me to wonder whether the technique with which I create something changes the value of the design, or whether it is simply only there to serve me. I can't say I have a preferred creative technique since a different thing interests me each time.
Who are your personal muses?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: Geishas: their distant detachment, elegance and mystery fascinate me.
Where do you see the future of jewellery going and do you think we will see more and more designs suspended between fashion and art?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: I encounter quite a few fashion/interior designers, industrial designers or people with a strong fashion sense who are creating jewellery, and so I see this trend for pieces made from unconventional materials constantly growing. Unlike expensive art jewelry, fashion jewelry offers an alternative since it is still unique, but less expensive. I would like to see more people take note of and invest in art jewelry, but I think it will take some time.
You have taken part in several exhibitions – what kind of feedback you got so far and do you have any new events planned for the future?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: There is a lot of interest in my work technique and in my structural world, the place from which I draw my inspiration. It's nice to see the associations and contexts people give to the shapes. It makes me look at the jewellery in a slightly different way. This coming January, a solo exhibition of my work will open in La Galleler Gallery in Spain, and I will soon be exhibiting my pieces also at the Galeria Alice Floriano in São Paolo.
Would you like to design jewellery for any fashion designer/fashion house in particular?
Yafit Ben Meshulam: I think working with Issey Miyake could be fascinating and challenging! I really connect with designs which are on the one hand very constructivist and on the other hand very flowing and in general I'm very much attracted to Japanese design.
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