Artist statement for Bode Well, The Fortunae Jewellery Studio, Radiant Pavilion 2026. 24-29 October 2026.
Objects to carry, hold, release and call back the special things.
I have always viewed jewellery as a container, a small vessel for big, important, intangible things, which also holds important side notes about who we are, what we prefer and what we believe in. The most obvious example is wedding and engagement jewellery, a symbol of connection, emotion and contract. Within the form that captures this, there is also room to express something of ourselves through the choice of materials, structure and design motifs, and the symbolism we attach to them. Most jewellery does this by default, whether or not our decisions about what we wear are conscious.
For the group exhibition Bode Well at the Fortunae Jewellery Studio, the thinking and making began with each of us gifting a carefully considered object to an allocated colleague, along with a wish.
From Kim I received the gift of a set of Minchiate Fiorentine cards, a historic Florentine deck first used as a game, which later came to be used for divination: a piece of Florence.
Kim's wish: for the love that you deserve, and the knowledge that your talent, kindness and generosity are treasured.
The gift was an invitation to return to Florence, where I did a hand-engraving intensive in 2023, and to how I felt there, immersed in learning in a city built on beautiful craft. It was an invitation to revisit the feeling of a place, of inspiration and deep learning, and a wish to be seen and known for what is within.
The cards have an etched-plate, printed quality: rudimentary line work for form, shape and shading, and rich colours printed slightly out of register. There is a looseness to them that seems to brim with life.
The deck holds the four suits (Swords-Spade, Clubs-Bastoni, Coins-Denari, Cups-Coppe), the court cards and the arcana you would see in the modern tarot, alongside cards for the zodiac signs, the elements and the virtues. The invitation to feel inspired and to look inwards a little, and Kim's words, led me to the cups, the suit associated with emotion and spirituality.
It was a prompt to revisit a form that continues to circulate in my past work and is always top of mind: to return to, and remake, the jewellery form of an actual container.
During my studies I made many larger-scale pieces from non-precious materials made to appear like natural materials, selected for deep, dark textures and forms that could be strung up and worn. The concept was that the preciousness of the object lay in what it was imbued with and who it was infused with, and in being able to carry these tangible expressions of connection with you.
Bode Well has invited me to return to this. Kim's gift of the Minchiate has invited me to do this too, she has noticed and validated this theme in my work, and prompted a return of sorts.
I revisit this concept with small precious-metal pieces, some sealed, some open, ready to be filled and secured; literal containers, and metaphorical or symbolic ones. They are small experiments and stirrings, an invitation to feel inspired towards even more new work, to make forms in which we can all carry our love, kindness and generosity.
Karla Way, 2026
See the work on the exhibition page, or read the full exhibition essay.
