Incertitudes are a series of handmade jewels/articles that explore extempore metalsmithing. Embracing process-driven design, Incertitudes broadly pivot on an intuitive and spontaneous crafting informed on one hand by the physical characteristics of metals and, on the other, by accident, unconditional experimentation, slapdash making, and even lack of skill. It explores plasticity, ductility, elasticity, abrasivity, hardness, resilience, tensile strength, chemical/heat reactivity, and stiffness in metals while it celebrates an improvised and playful approach to metalsmithing. In doing so, rudimentary aspects of working with metal (annealing, melting, cutting, forging, folding, oxidising, etc) are creatively interrogated in depth.

metal | hybrid | object

Incertitudes: contours

By: Marinos Koutsomichalis

Materials:
Sterling silver, 四分一, molybdenum steel, iron, aluminium

Dimensions:
Variable

Produced by:
Marinos Koutsomichalis

Produced at:
Y’ha-nthlei Studio, Heraklion GR
A. Jewel Lab, Athens GR

Produced in:
2005 & 2024

Some Incertitudes are very much concerned with how achieve ‘radical’, unusual contours; that is, intractable surfaces/volumes and/or elaborate textures/decorations. These are typically achieved in three different fashions (or combinations thereof): subtracting material of some monolithic piece of metal (e.g. by means of carving, grinding, drilling, etc); joining together individual pieces of the same metal (e.g. via brazing, soldering, fusing, cold connections, etc); or by virtue of casting, that is pouring liquid metal into some substrate or mould (e.g. gypsum, sand, die, water, clay, haphazard objects, etc).