In 2011, Fran Allison, with the aid of research funding from Manukau Institute of Technology, began conducting a series of videoed conversations with players from the contemporary jewelry scene. Makers, writers, and gallery owners in Europe, the UK, and New Zealand share with her their views on their own and current jewelry practices, with the idea that the differing processes and methods each has developed in their practices will be useful information for makers in all art and design fields. In 2014, five videos were uploaded to Vimeo with the title Jewellery Conversations.
One of them, subtitled Place, Process and Materiality, suggests that Ms. Allison’s own interests are aligned with the Kiwi jewelry scene’s ongoing love affair with the manipulation of found materials. She pays special attention to the influence place might have on a maker’s process and material choice (listen to Warwick Freeman discussing geological unfaithfulness, or to Lisa Walker on the idea of camouflaging object history), but she is a keen and quiet listener, and lets interviewees stray far into their own territories.
This project is ongoing, and new videos will be added as they are completed.
