FLORA BOOK

Trained as a painter, Flora Book started making jewellery in the 1970's. Her bold, elegant jewellery blurs the boundaries between textile and jewellery. Instead of twining wire over fairly rigid spokes, Books pieces are constructed from silver tubing and nylon filament, creating fluidity with an otherwise rigid material. The resulting pieces are mobile and light; they can hang like soft clothing, change their character by alternate drapings, and skim lightly over the skein-supporting human body.

STATEMENT FROM THE ARTIST

“I make my jewelry flexible. The term flexibility refers both to the physical properties of the material as well as to the concept and design. This allows the wearer to interact with the piece. In that way they can make each article their own. I try to make a hard material, silver and glass, flexible, by weaving them with nylon. I have expanded the vocabulary of my materials by adding a soft material, such as wool. I knit and felt it with silver and glass so as to create textile jewelry. The work is soft and comfortable and can move with the body. I like to think of my work as site-specific installations for the mobile human body. Some of my pieces have been inspired by the painting of Gustav Klimt and display the gleaming colored segments that are so characteristic of his work."