Recently, the winners of the 2023 British Goldsmiths Craft and Design Awards were announced. Chinese designer Kong Jinglu won the Bronze Award for 3D conceptual jewelry. Most of Kong Jinglu's works are related to "writing", whether it is calligraphy, which has deep traditional culture, or keyboard, which is most commonly used in contemporary life, she is thinking about the hidden spiritual connotation behind the "writing style" and visualizing it in the form of jewelry. and present it visually through jewelry. Jewelry, as an object related to the body, is an appropriate way to represent "writing".

Her award-winning "Tap-type" is inspired by the sound of keyboard strokes. When the wearer presses down on the piece, it emits the same audible feedback, creating a similar sensation to what we feel when we use a keyboard. "I was inspired by the sounds in my own life that we tend to ignore." Kong Jinglu said.

The work "Tap-type"

"Sound" plays a special role in our lives, and the emotions and feelings it generates are the anchor points for the construction of memories. It is also the most important and special presence in this work by Kong Jinglu. Everyone has the experience of using a keyboard, but in the process of using it, different emotions will arise, which may be happy or sad. The "Tap-type" piece acts as an "intermediary" that instantly brings the memories of the wearer to mind, resonating with his or her own experiences and feelings through the piece.

The "sound" production method provides an "invitation" to interact with this work. The form of the keys gives people an unconscious urge to press and tap them, especially in modern society where the use of keyboards has become habitual and the act is fixed as a body language, mapped with sound. Tap-type" detaches the actual function of "key" in computer "writing" and presents its visual, tactile and auditory senses independently, reinforcing the theme while contributing to the "sound" for the wearer and viewer. The "Tap-type" is an independent presentation of visual, tactile and auditory sensations, reinforcing the theme and contributing to a "three-dimensional" aesthetic experience for both the wearer and the viewer.

Works from the "Hand-Ornament" series

Kong Jinglu's previous work "Hand - Ornament" discusses the relationship between hand gestures and writing. She said that the "qi" of writing flows and becomes the "wind", and the "rhythm" of the flowing process gives rise to the "rhyme". "The rhythm and rhythm of calligraphy comes from the rhythm of the writing process, and the action of recording the writing becomes the external expression of capturing the rhythm. The "Hand - Ornaments" series is to explore the various gestures of writing in the process of creating civilization, and hope to record and restore them through the form of jewelry to expand people's understanding of the action of writing. Wearing the "Hand - Ornaments" not only shows how people write, but also preserves the writing itself. At the same time, the cultural symbol of the brush is a metaphor for traditional Chinese calligraphy, and as this traditional act is gradually disappearing, this work also hopes to awaken people to rethink the necessity of writing.

The work " Writing through the traces"

The series of works " Writing Through the Traces" explores the relationship between breath and writing. According to Kong Jinglu's understanding, the addition of "qi" is intended to make calligraphy break through the two-dimensional plane of the work itself and convey to the viewer rhythm, rhyme, gesture, or vitality. The process of writing, even if one "shakes one's head", leaves traces of qi rhythm. Thus, when the "ink ball" inside the work, due to the interaction of the wearer, tumbles and undulates inside the bamboo container and comes into contact with all corners of the container. A series of abstract traces are in fact writing a work about "writing" itself, interpreting the continuity of the element of life in calligraphy, "qi rhyme", like breathing.

Kong Jinglu's exploration of "writing" is not only projected in the jewelry medium, but also in everyday objects. The work "Book of Worms" is a series of silver cups, the exterior of which is first scanned and then laser engraved with writing. Interestingly, most of the text on the cups is actually written by "bugs", and it is difficult for the viewer to distinguish which marks are left by bugs crawling and which texts are written by humans. Inspired by Wang Yangming's idea that "the human heart and all things are one and the same," Kong said that in nature, the calligraphy of bugs is often overlooked, but they are spontaneous, unrestrained and varied, and the traditional Chinese calligraphy of cursive writing is similar to "bug writing. The cursive calligraphy in traditional Chinese calligraphy is similar to the "bug calligraphy" in that it is written by the ancients in a single stroke, without being bound by any rules, and is therefore interesting and intriguing.

Works "Book of Worms" series

In the process of forging the cups, the author found that the breath and momentum between each lift and strike is the key to shaping the final form. Mastering the breath, rhythm and rhythm in forging is the only way to hammer the "qi" of the metal. Therefore, the work uses a set of cups to narrate the crawling trajectory of a worm after it enters the land of human books, and is discovered after writing, and then flees in haste. Seemingly light-hearted and witty, they actually present the underlying logical relationship between calligraphy, metalwork and traditional philosophy.

Through Kong Jinglu's several series of jewelry practice, we can see that the new jewelry designers nowadays have more self-exploration in their creations and are gradually finding their own areas of interest and discourse. The Western contemporary jewelry context has broken many constraints of jewelry for them and released more creative space, while the Chinese traditional culture has given them a rich ideological soil for their innovation. On the one hand, they deconstruct and reconstruct the form and function to create jewelry works with their own visual style, and on the other hand, they focus on more diversified sensory experiences such as hearing and touch in the way they interact with each other, thus reshaping the relationship between jewelry and the wearer. More importantly, their exploration is being noticed by the international contemporary jewelry scene, along with the traditional Chinese culture and the way of thinking and innovation it brings.

Article Source:艺术与设计

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