| The way I started my apprenticeship at age of 13 did not coincide with the classic way met in jewelry studios. For the start, my master considered composition to be more important than technique. Because of that, I learned the traditional techniques depending on the compositional sketches I intended to materialise. This way of starting things made me realize the evident connection between the shapes you wish to create and, the techniques and materials you use. The manner in which you decide to build something directly influences its aesthetics. This finding got me very close to the primitive and ethnographic jewelry. The visible stamp of tools, the vitality of handling the materials and the clarity from which you can tell how objects were made were some of my pattern-making elements. As time passed I found myself moving towards more simple, obvious and better technically realised shapes, which are intended to be a comment to classic jewelry, having as reference point the difference between valuable and precious. There are some rigid rules in classic jewelry I tried to find alternatives to: do not put precious and non-precious materials together, only stones are to be mounted, pierced stones are compromised, etc, and I gave a conceptual argument to each case. The techniques I have used in most of my works were the traditional mechanical constructions and methods. Treating jewelry as an art which is not subordinated to the idea of "decorative", converting the idea of "accessory" into an attitude and personal expression problem: these are some of my present directions. David Sandu |
