Rachel Blair

It has been a very long time since I featured any jewellry on this blog but I was especially touched by the fragility and beauty of the work of Orkadian Rachel Blair at Glasgow School of Art last week. Raches work reminds me of burnt love letters, of loss and damage but it is also stunningly in its subtle hues and its patina.

"My pieces are mainly constructed from silver and gold wire frames with tension set wound papers. These papers are all hand dyed and wound individually to create intricate patterns incorporating the flaws and ripples. I uses papers to create pieces that have a sense of preciousness, papers that are usually worthless, but when manipulated and set in a precious setting have a much greater meaning. By using paper, my pieces have a limited lifetime. It is the wearing away of the precious papers within a materially precious band that is the interest. The piece is always under tension and stress, but aesthetically complete." Rachel Blair