MEET and TALK at Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp - 2 October

"sustainability - circular economy"

on Monday 2nd October at 2pm at Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
Mutsaardstraat 31 – 2000 Antwerp in “Wintertuin” – free of entry
(Doors will open at 1pm and Talk will start at 2pm)

During this event, inter-disciplinary cooperation between different actors in art and design will discuss themes as sustainability and circular economy and how each speaker gives its insight view on these important topics.
 
Therefore, we are very happy to have among us the key-speakers:
 
Steinbeisser.org (Martin Kullik, Jouw Wijnsma) – more here
 
Flanders DC (Simon Gryspeert) – more here
 
 
 

Antwerp Jewellery Week would like to thank Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, to give the opportunity to organise this Meet and Talk at its location. The Talk will be held in English and is free of entrance.

  Art work from Steinbeisser, Han Ning Chiang and Fien Verbeke will be on display during the event.  

Steinbeisser.org (Martin Kullik, Jouw Wijnsma )

Steinbeisser was founded in 2009 by Jouw Wijnsma and Martin Kullik. In 2012 Steinbeisser launched the Experimental Gastronomy initiative based in Amsterdam and active around the world.

The Experimental Gastronomy brings together renowned chefs and artists for a one-of-a-kind culinary experience. Food and drinks are entirely plant-based (vegan) and sourced from local organic and biodynamic (Demeter) producers. Artists create cutlery and dishware that celebrates experimentation and the search for new ways to enjoy food. The dinners showcase contemporary cuisine at the highest level, uniting design, gastronomy, and nature.

Launched in 2016, Steinbeisser’s online store Jouw presents a collection of extraordinary tableware pieces created by artists for the Experimental Gastronomy. Driven by a search for new ways to enjoy food, these pieces don’t follow the normal rules of usability. Instead, they challenge you to reconsider preconceptions about the relationship between tableware and the user. They can be loved for their thought-provoking function but also for their beauty.

2022 marks the beginning of our own biodiversity initiative. A part of the proceeds from all our projects will go into the restoration of natural habitats and endangered native plant species in the Netherlands. From now on we will start mapping the progress in our biodiversity journal.

FLANDERS DC

Flanders DC is the Flemish design and fashion centre and works towards strong and future-oriented entrepreneurship within design and fashion. Flanders DC supports these sectors in their role as drivers of economic and social progress by ensuring that designers from other economic sectors are more involved as innovation partners.

Flanders District of Creativity vzw used to support entrepreneurs from all creative sectors (such as design, fashion, but also games, marketing, media, architecture, film, music and arts) but from 2023 it will focus entirely on design and fashion.

Flanders DC wants to advise, support and bring together designers, entrepreneurs and companies from the design and fashion sector in Flanders, both when starting up, growing, internationalising and increasing brand awareness and recognition, with an extra focus on sustainability, technology, inclusion and creativity. We also encourage collaborations between the design and fashion sector and with companies from other sectors that pursue innovation.

As a non-profit organisation, we work on behalf of the Flemish government but adopt a neutral position. 

The design and fashion sector includes: fashion, accessories, jewellery, illustration, textile, crafts, brand design, graphic design, web design, digital design, collectible design, furniture design and interior, product design, service design, social design, spatial design, systemic design and industrial design.

Fien Verbeke 

Fien Verbeke holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Jewellery Design & Gold and Silversmithing Department, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium (2020). During her studies, she obtained a Goldsmithing and silversmithing degree at the Vakschool Schoonhoven, The Netherlands (2014). Studied at the Gemstone and Jewelry Design Department, University of Trier in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Her work is influenced by her personal history and experiences. With a main focus on sustainability and circular economy. For the past three years (2020-2023), Fien has shifted her focus partially towards entrepreneurship, business and sustainable economy. She founded her own jewelry brand focused on ethical and sustainable sourcing of materials, and took her first steps in the family business. Finding the balance between designing, running an own jewelry brand and taking the family company towards a next (sustainable) level.

@ Fien Verbeke
@ Fien Verbeke

Han Ning Chiang 

Artist Statement: 
I focused on the relationship between jewellery and objects and people’s emotions. I began to research how objects can engage people and bring comfort and bliss. I transformed pre-loved/preused objects as materials into new works to evoke human emotions and explore the connection between people and objects. The focus of this series is to allow the audience and the wearer to embody compassion and comfort of pre-love objects. To document this series, I created a documentary photoshoot, which involved visiting private places of friends, neighbours to capture the final work.
Artistic Statement Visit in Comfort: 
When we cherish objects, their age and deteriorate often show how they evolve into indispensable companions in our lives. As they wear out, they provide us with a sense of comfort and attachment. These companions will be presented to the audience in an intimate and interactive way: As teddy bears that can be worn; pillows that we can cuddle; wooden spoon- boxes that store precious spoons can be opened. Some people might be fascinated by these objects that seem mundane to others. For me, owning or holding them is comforting, and soothes my anxiety. By working with used objects as working material, makes me feel like giving them a new life. The winter fleece coat feels like teddy bear’s fur to me. I habitually grab the fur balls that rub off the cuffs of the fleece, because of the cold and nervousness, to ease my emotions by digging my hands into the pockets. Once loved, but abandoned teddy bears had been washed and dried so many times that the fur was like a trampled carpet. Kneaded and cuddled by hands, they were deformed and the two eyes and ears were not symmetrical, but still exude a sense of the adorkable*. Their familiar touch and cuteness evokes memories of childhood. The pillow that I cuddled every night before bed, even though a few feathers were poking out at the corners, feels like it has no face, but a loved one, it can quietly embrace me in my dreams. I broke my 15-year old wooden spoon by stirring too hard because I was hungry and in a hurry to cook. However, I could not bear to throw it away, and wondered if I could make a spoon box to keep it as something to treasure. I recreated these comforts by transforming these pre-love objects that have been defined as dead by their owners. The marks of the deterioration, coupled with the new forms, come to interact with us again and give us melancholy feelings of comfort and bliss. And you, what objects bring you comfort?

@ Han Ning Chiang
@ Han Ning Chiang