Organic design can be sensual, soft, may be highly textured, with the beauty of randomness that nature’s genius brings. When thinking about organic design, it usually resembles nature without making an exact copy but rather simplifying and interpreting the “natural” qualities found in the source of inspiration.

Sue Quigley designs

In my opinion, the true use of nature as inspiration for designs, and thus the creation of  ”organic” jewelry, lies in how the artist interprets and redefines the structures of nature filling the design with the artist’s own visual language and offering a completely new vision of nature instead of merely copying it.

Beth Pohlman designs

And that’s the hardest part. A jeweler can make molds of nearly any seed, pod or twig they find, cast it and make jewelry. But studying the natural object, drawing it, analyzing its characteristics and then creating art inspired by what the designer “reads” from that natural object gives the design added value and a more honest approach.

I love her work and the kind of lifestyle I believe she has. Her jewelry is incredibly creative, the quality of her craftmanship is superb and how she manages to have a consistent “look” to her designs is something I truly aspire to have one day.

I have met her at the Boston Craft Show and the Philadelphia Craft Show, she is open and friendly, honest about her work and love for nature.

And most importantly, humble over her tremendous success, true to herself. Her work is in the major galleries across the country and exhibits all year long.

Her use of beautiful gemstones, the texture she creates in metal, the use of interesting clasps and ingenius connections make her jewelry interesting and wearable.

Visit her website to see her one-of-a-kind designs and other work, as well as her custom work:

http://www.sydneylynch.com

There is also a video about her 25 years of artistic career. There she shows her inspirations, how she goes about designing and creating her work and gives you a glimpse into her life, it is worth watching!

http://www.craftinamerica.org/artists_metal/story_391.php?PHPSESSID=8b6ef3bbec8073b3e8fbe4e684544012

Taking nature as a model is not new but the novelty is how we are now designing by imitating nature´s efficient designs to create sustainable technologies – this is called biomimicry. Fascinating.

In summary, Benyus suggests looking at nature first when solving a design problem, most of the time, nature will already have an elegant (simple and efficient) and beautiful solution. The key is integration.

Her passion and enthusiasm are so contagious as well, see her in action:

There is currently a major shift going on in the way designer and manufacturers are relating to customers. With on-demand manufacturing services, such as the ones Ponoko offers, the market for custom made and design savvy objects might be changing forever.

Ponoko is based in New Zeland, and what they do is basically bridge the gap between independent designers, and a global customer base. Ponoko builds on digital fabrication and services laser cutting and machine milling to designers all over the world. They have made partnerships with manufacturers in all continents geographically spreading their reach of digital manufacturing to better serve designers. This global network allowes desginers to send their designs to whichever manufacturer is nearer to their customer and thus bridge the gap in time and space so that the final customer gets his or her unique product faster and more efficiently.

We might be entering the era of mass customization. This means that computer-aided manufacturing systems produce custome products by means of combining the low cost of producing in mass with the flexibility of individual customization.

Check our their website, they might have the service that you need to get your design out to the world!

http://www.ponoko.com/

This is also an interesting article about them too:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091001/the-future-of-manufacturing.html

Her work has been exhibited worldwide, it is also as part of the permanent collections of museums across the globe and is highly covetted for private collectors. I myself, would love to own one of her pieces!

Her designs are based in geometry (once again!). She designs beautiful compositions working with wire and highly complex forms. Her collection for Wedgegood, for example, is sculptural and very distinctive. Ramshaw is not afraid of experimenting with new materials and has even done work on a larger scale to complement architecture and interiors.

Interestingly, she also plays with how she displays her jewelry, often fabricating scultpural forms or stands to not only hold the jewelry but as part of the design of a greater piece. She also makes her jewelry in parts or sections so that the wearer can participate in the way the jewelry is worn.

The principles from numbers and mathematics, applied to the art field, yield geometric constructions that have been used for millenia. It is the underlying order and structure behind most of natures most fascinating designs and forms.

Symbolic and sacred constructions have had an impact in western artwork too by means of proportion, harmony and balance.

In this book you will find the archetypal principles expressed as numbers and shapes and the relationship among them. The book is organized in chapters tackling numbers, from 1 to 10, and how each number expresses itself in art and design. By showing familiar and day to day examples, the reader is guided into the work of geometric constructions and how they shape nearly everything.

The reader will also learn how these numeric principles create both organic and inorganic forms in nature and how in turn their construction is helping todays technology and engineering advancements. The book is also highly illustrative of art throughout the world that display mathematics by design.

I recommend it because it opens your mind to a miriad of design ideas that are not evident but that are rich in details and meaning.

http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Constructing-Universe-Mathematical/dp/0060926716/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

Spin your imagination, get hold of your copy!

Courtesy of www.bathsheba.com

After writing my last post, I thought that featuring her work would be a great way to exemplify how polyhedra can be a design source. Bathsheba is an outstanding artist as you can see from her website:

http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/

Her work is based in mathematical models with which she “draws” and are rendered in CAD programs and later modelled for 3D printing and casted. She is totally immersed in cutting edge technology and a global village kind of philosophy too. Bathsheba wants her art to be enjoyed by the masses sharing her knowledge and creations through, what better, her website. Making scultpure accesible to all who can reach her through the WWW.

Courtesy of www.bathsheba.com

In her own words: “I have a grass-roots business model.  I don’t limit editions, I price as low as costs permit, and most of my selling is direct to you, by way of this site.  My plan is to make these designs available, rather than restrict the supply.  It’s more like publishing than like gallery-based art marketing: we don’t feel that a book has lost anything because many people have read it.  In fact it becomes more valuable as it gains wide currency and influence.  With the advent of 3D printing, this is the first moment in art history when sculpture can be, in this sense, published.  I think it’s the wave of the future“. And she is surfing that wave!

And she has also done jewelry! Of course her designs are a great fit for jewelry, they can be worn as pendants, earrings, etc. I love it!

Courtesy of www.shapeways.com

“I hope you’ll enjoy my designs.  They’re visions of order in the universe, my peaceful places.  I feel calm and hopeful in making them, and I hope they will bring some of that satisfaction into your life” as per her website.

What a wonderful artist!

Specifically, the wonderful world of polyhedra.

I have always had a tendency towards geometric shapes, as well as organic ones. But the order and structure of geometry really appeals to me; and I think it is a sure-fire approach for any design.

Image courtesy of George Hart, www.georgehart.com

Geometric forms may have symmetry which brings beauty, repetitive elements that give a structure for the eye to follow and lots have symbolic meaning known throughout the ages. More about this on my website:

http://www.design-unique-handcrafted-jewelry.com/elements-and-principles-of-design.html

Another characteristic which I like of polyhedra is that it teaches you how different shapes come together to make a whole. This gives you plenty of ideas as to how shapes interlock/match/combine or just come together. It is like an engineer trying to put together a machine from small and varying parts.

See great ideas here:

http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/art.html

Jewelry is much the same way, say for example an earring. Earrings dangle from the earlobe, the design has to thus respond to gravity, be lightweight, wearable (anatomically speaking) and adorn the wearer. Right there you have a set of variables that start defining your design and that can be in themselves designed too.

Earrings have a post/earwire or other mechanism to attach itself to the earlobe (finding). It then has some sort of element to hang the body of the earring itself (whatever it might be – connector). And finally there is the ornate part of the earring that is what customers ultimately buy (body of the earring).

Image courtesy of wigjig.com

Now, the image despicts the most simple and no-brainer way of “assembling” an earring. But it is precisely polyhedras and their multiple models that might give you new ideas as to how to put your jewelry together.

Beautifully handcrafted and adorned with quality gemstones, the designs by jeweler Arman Sarkisyan have me drooling! His intricate workmanship, the ornate way he contrasts the sparkle of gold with the depth of oxidized silver is really stunning.

His designs are classical yet innovative. Arman finds inspiration with both Byzantine and Gothic influences, the former being the element that I think differentiates his designs above everyone else.

22K and oxidized silver jewelry

I love the shapes and forms of his jewelry. It is obviously reminiscent of ancient jewelry but the way he incorporates intricate patterns into bold shapes makes the overall design straighforward but at the same time with a rich and luxurious feel.

Byzantine and Gothic inspired jewelry design

Arman was named the Editor´s Choice Winner and Best in Silver Design at the 2010 Couture Design Award. See more about the designer and his collections at his website below:

http://www.armansarkisyan.com