Yichen Zhao Ivan

Sustainability is the goal of all of us designers, I focus on the objects and jewellery of our lives, small objects that are often plastic, disposable, easy to lose, industrial, which often require mass industrial production, and I think about the waste of materials and the pollution of the environment that is caused by the behaviour of people who lose and buy them over and over again. I rethink the wearable object and the possibilities of jewellery through a unique perspective: are we wearing the objects of our lives? And: are we using jewellery as a tool? Thus, in some cases we may use jewellery as a 'tool', for example, when we don't have a sim-card pin we tend to use an earring as a tool to change the sim-card. In this case we tend to see jewellery not only as a wearable or decorative object, but as a functional tool. Therefore, in this project I use the traditional shapes of jewellery, such as rings and necklaces, and the traditional materials of jewellery, such as silver, pearls and diamonds, to make the audience rethink the way we think about objects. This project makes the audience rethink our understanding of objects, whether we can revisit these small tools in our lives and promote the preservation and definition of gadgets.

I researched into the production, industrialisation and processing of tools and jewellery, and found that in the context of mechanised industrialisation, they are made in a very similar way, with the majority of mass-produced tools and jewellery being made through 3d printing or casting. I find that the difference between them is only due to the different contexts in which they are used, and that the shapes of the jewellery or tools are sometimes subtly similar. For example, a part of a sim-card pin is very similar to an earring, or a key ring and a ring both have a circular design. So I try to redesign these tools and jewellery using CAD and CAM processes.

There are various situations in our lives where jewellery can be used to solve various problems. Through primary research I have looked at the good and bad effects that jewellery can have on our lives: the function of jewellery, and explored the symbolism of diamonds: love, and other functional tool shapes, and combined tool and jewellery shapes and materials to redesign functional jewellery that can be worn. For example, in some cases where we don't have sim pins, we can often use studs as tools, so I designed a series of sim studs as wearable tool jewellery as an example. 

I modelled this through Rhino and experimented with 3d printing to simulate the process of making traditional jewellery with mass produced tools. Using white resin 3d printing as a medium for design development, I experimented with different sizes and designs, which were then confirmed by casting them in silver using 3d printing wax, and finally set and polished and plated. Most of the works use silver as a traditional precious metal material, and the reflection effect after polishing simulates the stainless steel of the material in the tool. It makes the work look like the texture and appearance of a tool, but it is made using the traditional precious metal and production process in jewellery. It challenges the boundary between jewellery and tools.