Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Sweet!




These jewellery pieces made of sugar by Greetje van Helmond remind me of a Philippe Starck quote:

"You get the symbols you deserve."

This 'unsustainable' jewellery nicely flows with our consumptive lifestyles, and our lack of sensitivity to complex taste. The infantile consumer doesn't ask for complexity, quality and richness, thus superficiality is what he gets. You are what you eat, sure. And why not show this actual identity through jewellery?

The choice of materials and production process is interesting too, almost mocking the predominant idea that 'newness' is best. These products just immediately start deteriorating while in use, so people are shown more directly their illusory ideas of beauty being in a static image. We do need to look for beauty in how we act and think, not just in how we look. We need to step beyond designing products as static entities, but need to look at how they fit in larger social and natural processes.

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