Ajụjụ Ọnụ Onye Na-emepụta Ihe
6 ajụjụ
I studied graphic design in Singapore when I was in college. After returning to China, I worked as a graphic designer for some time until I got married and had children.
Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
I studied graphic design in Singapore when I was in college. After returning to China, I worked as a graphic designer for some time until I got married and had children. As a woman, I need to strike a balance between family and career. Obviously, the career of graphic designer is difficult to meet my needs. Nowadays, science and technology change with each passing day. With the development of the Internet, everything changes too fast. It is not easy to find a career that can develop continuously until I came into contact with the jewelry industry. I found that after hundreds of years of evolution, the jewelry industry has not changed much. It still retains the most traditional manufacturing technology, and people are more inclined to choose natural gemstones. So I made up my mind to study gem identification and jewelry design. In the next few years, I set up my own studio to make private jewelry customization. Until 2019, I learned the production of cloisonne, which made me step into the door of art jewelry.
Cloisonne, as a traditional craft, has a history of more than 600 years in China. At present, few people can do it. Its process is complex, time-consuming and cannot be mass produced. Because pure manual high-temperature firing will have a lot of uncertainty, and the yield is difficult to guarantee, so few people are willing to engage in this process. Most craftsmen only make traditional utensils and lack new ideas in design. But I like its uniqueness and its characteristics of long-term preservation. It is very suitable to be combined with jewelry. As long as you master the technology skillfully, you can make jewelry design unique and artistic!
What is "design" for you?
I hope my jewelry is artistic, unique and difficult to copy.
Therefore, in the design, I will integrate the aesthetics of the East and the west, and use more complex technology, hoping to show its uniqueness.
What makes a design successful?
In my opinion, as a successful jewelry design, it should have three conditions: good design, good manufacturing technology and good gemstones. These three are the key and indispensable.
Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
My inspiration comes from nature. I hope to express the beautiful lives of animals and plants in nature through artistic means and arouse people's love and respect for nature with my meager power.
Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
I live in Beijing, China. This is an ancient and modern city and a rapidly developing city. Like many cities, in today's highly developed technology and commerce, many intangible cultural heritage of handicrafts are facing loss. I hope to let more people know about Cloisonne through my own design.
As we all know, China is a big manufacturing country. Although I hate to admit it, it is a common phenomenon that an excellent design is copied. Therefore, I insist on pure manual production. Due to the difficulty and low output, it is not easy to be copied.
What are your future plans? What is next for you?
I hope to train the production technology of cloisonne more skillfully in the next design, design and produce more excellent works, hold personal exhibitions, achieve good results in well-known auctions, and become a cloisonne jewelry artist.
