HOT ! \'Heartbeads\' necklace (2006)

Made in 2006. Wood, pigment silk, hangs to 33cm.

The Heartbeads series first appeared in this form in 2006, and was recently revisited with a new, more complex series of necklaces in 2019. ⁠Rather than highlight the colourful face of the beads, which might be more expected, Manon intends this necklace to be worn with the insides out, revealing the subtle colour bleed of the pigments around the edges and allowing the bright, shiny colour at the back to reflect gently onto, say, a white shirt. ⁠

Manon van Kouswijk is a Dutch artist and contemporary jeweller who lives and works in Melbourne. Manon likes to think that it’s possible to reinvent jewellery, despite the fact that its archetypal forms and motifs haven’t fundamentally changed throughout its long history. She views these archetypes as templates that she uses for her translations of the jewellery types she works from (for example the beaded necklace). The traces of the making process are often visible in Manon’s work. The imperfection of the handmade, present in marks of fingerprints and moulds, is an integral part of the objects. While originating from a conceptual approach to making at the same time her works embrace the sensual qualities of jewellery objects in the use of colour, their weight, sound, rhythm and material expression.