WHAT HAVE WE DONE? COLLECTION
“WHAT HAVE WE DONE?” is a collection showing the association of death of marine life by plastic and PPE. The work makes bold statements about how people are selfishly protecting their short-term health from the Coronavirus by wearing PPE while condemning future generations to slow starvation by destroying the food chain through discarded protective equipment. Skeletal remains are used to imply that marine life is heading for extinction and that future generations will find these skeletons surrounded by pieces of plastic.
The pieces carry several messages about human behaviour. For example, in the works called ‘Cuff The Criminal’ the pieces entwine and ‘handcuff’ the wearer as a person who represents humanity as a murderer of marine life. Humans are being punished for their wreckless approach to plastic consumption. Rather than using resin to make fossil. I have experimented with tapioca bioplastic as a more ethical alternative. The intention is to avoid adding new waste to the environment. An interesting part of the work is the use of tea leaf waste to make the fossils have a more stone like appearance.
I feel that there is an element of over production of ideas in many of the pieces that I have made. This is a reflection of society that over consumes so my pieces with many parallel ideas are like humanity and its overuse of materials for things that can be simple. Personally, as an artist I am like humanity in that I am greedy. My work is full of an overwhelming number of ideas. It is 'greedy art' and the greed of my art is exactly what I want people to feel.
PLASTIC LASTS FOREVER COLLECTIONS
It is common knowledge that plastic does not biodegrade easily or quickly. Most plastics cannot completely decompose. It is a kind of something lasts forever. It is also a theme of this collection: PLASTIC LASTS FOREVER. My concept is about fossils in the future. I believe that plastic will either become fossilised itself or it will cause animal life to become fossils.
I believe that we can use recycled plastic to make interesting and thought-provoking pieces that can make people think about their use of plastic and also stimulate feelings and emotions around the damage that is being done to humankind by discarded plastic waste. Through my work, I want people to think about reusing plastic or to use sustainable materials to protect the environment.
COLLECTION 1: This collection was experimental about how plastic impacts on marine animals and turns them into fossils. All the fossils are contained in plastic container lids which is a metaphor that human consumer behaviour is literally killing those animals. The back of all the pieces carry slogans to give each piece greater impact.
This fossil has a seahorse’s skeleton which holds a Christan cross made from cotton buds. The fossil is contained in a plastic container lid. This is a brooch and the back has a slogan: “DEATHLY PLASTIC”.
A fish’s skeleton which has become stuck inside a plastic bag. The fossil is within a container lid. It is a bracelet and on the other side is a written slogan: “CONSUMER KILLER”.
This fossil has a turtle’s skeleton which has been contorted by a plastic ring. It too is contained within a plastic lid. This is a necklace and the reverse has a slogan: “THE MARINE MASSACRE”.
COLLECTION 2: For this collection I experimented with different materials to make skeletons and fossils. For the skeletons, I used aluminium from soft drink cans as it too is another kind of waste that we need to reuse. Instead of using resin to make fossils and amber, I used tapioca bioplastic because I don’t want my work to add more waste to the environment. To add colour, I used food colouring. The blue colour represents oceans and yellow stands for amber. I also used ground coffee to give the bioplastic a stone look.
During the process of doing this collection, I have learned a great deal about how people connect the issue of pollution and jewellery design. On reflection it would have been wise to make some smaller pieces that people can visualise clearly as jewellery. Although most people do accept exaggerated jewellery is an interesting metaphor for the size and scale of the problem of plastic pollution.
This necklace which is of 3 animal’s fossils shows how dramatic plastic pollution is on marine life. It also has a crucifix to represent death.
This piece shows how fish die from plastic waste. People can see how the fish died by getting caught in the plastic nets. These are future fossils.
This necklace shows the journey of plastic from entering the oceans to killing animals and finally becoming an amber fossil.
This piece shows the fish died because not only of the plastic net around it, but also it gets stuck in many of plastics. Like even if the nets can kill it, it can be killed by other plastic pieces.
This necklace represents a bird fossil which has died because of the plastic piece stuck on the bird’s beak. The way to wear the necklace somehow shows the feeling of how many animals die due to plastic.
This piece shows not only the problem of plastic pollution in the oceans but also the impact on humans as we are literally eating what we have thrown away.
- The left one: This piece represents plastic on modern beaches. It also can represent fossils of the future where we will not just see skeletons, but also a vast array of plastic fossils. - The right one: This brooch shows how bad plastic pollution is on beaches of today. It has 5 pieces connected together which represent the 5 oceans of the world. It means all the oceans combined now struggle with the issue of plastic due to our over consumption of this material.
This brooch represents the amber of the future which we can see plastic pieces frozen in time in amber instead of beautiful insects. This is also a warning about how long plastic can last after we discard it.
This chains represent a story of plastic going from the ocean to becoming amber. These pieces can be customised by altering the length and/or mixing the colours to create bracelets, necklaces, and even chokers.
PRECIOUS JEWELLERY - PRECIOUS RESOURCES COLLECTION
So often we see tv news coverage or documentary footage showing distressing pictures of marine life caught up in plastic waste. The issue of polluted seas and water ways is now a global issue. Plastic is now entering the food chain as fish and other animals consume Micro and Nano plastic waste. The ocean is now home to literally millions of tonnes of plastic waste which I believe we should think about reusing or recycling. I am especially sensitive to this as the Mekong flows through my home country of Vietnam and is one of the world’s most polluting rivers.
This collection focuses on recycling or reuse of plastic waste to make new quirky jewellery. The emphasis is that there is no such thing as waste there is merely stuff that we do not reuse. My work is creative and deliberately exaggerated as it tries to contrast giant jewellery with the giant problem of plastic waste. It focuses on exaggerated shapes made from polypropylene bakery packaging made to look like giant precious gemstones. These are plastic and glitter and reflect light from all angles. I have created aesthetically interesting pieces that form elaborate costume jewellery.
ANGLO-SAXON RINGS
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England. They traced their origins to the 5th century settlement of incomers to Britain, who migrated to the island from the North Sea coastlands of continental Europe. They used a lot of time and energy to build churches which were often the centre of village life. They thus used many Celtic crosses in these church designs and this influence crossed over into jewellery design. They also used Celtic step patterns and more elaborate geometric patterns in jewellery design.
I am interested in how to connect historical themes to modern products. Thus I created a jewellery collection honouring the Anglo-Saxon period. For this I used forms and patterns for Anglo-Saxon jewellery combined with forms of architecture such as Celtic Crosses found in Churches and monasteries of the era.
Using geometric patterns from an Anglo-Saxon brooch and form of Church of St Mary, West Sussex.
Using a Celtic cross shape and the form of the fibula (front view).
Using Celtic step pattern from the brooch and form of a Fibula (side view).
VIETNAMESE TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE TOOLS COLLECTION
Awarded Top 13 most impressive graduation projects at ELLE Fashion Road Trip 2016 - Vietnam
Vietnam is a fairly unknown south east Asian country. There has existed a unique culture and identity here for thousands of years although globally its recent past and conflict with the United States has given the world a view associating it with war and hostility.
As someone Vietnamese, I have seen enormous change in the nation as its agrarian heritage has given way to a new dynamic wealth creation. The post war generation have become the beneficiaries as the roar of this great tiger economy has led to spectacular growth. The nation has always been an agrarian one, with unique tools and equipment used for thousands of years to cultivate land and grow food for Vietnam’s 97 million inhabitants.
As a designer with a passion for art, I wanted to see where the agrarian heritage and wealth generating young population could appreciate the past while enjoying the benefits of ostentatious consumption. I wanted to use simple agricultural tools as a metaphor for wealth. The Jewellery of today being the beauty and rewards of a modern generation as growing food and looking after people were to peoples ancestors. I carefully looked at the market. I designed the products to be symbolic of Vietnam’s agrarian roots. I am interested in exploring this further and through Jewellery I would like the world to think differently about Vietnam.
A Harrow Necklace & A Grist Mill Bracelet.
‘Gau song’ Earrings & ‘Nong’, ‘Nia’, ‘Met’,‘Dan’,‘Sang’,‘Thung’,‘Mung’, ‘Bo’ and Seed bag Brooch.
A Pestle and Mortar Ring & A Grinding Mortar using water Ring.
