Juan Castro — 'La Vendimia' Earrings, 2023

Earrings cast from natural raffia in sterling silver.

Juan Castro’s work is the result of the attraction and curiosity toward adornments that he has carried with him since childhood. His jewellery is created by a juxtaposition of religious adornments, old Mediterranean cultures and civilizations, history, antique treasures, mythology, an anthropologist’s definition of beauty, volcanic landscapes, movement, balance and the fragile line between beauty and destruction. The mixture of all of this, combined with the use of traditional techniques, makes each piece unique. For this show, " I will use the Raffia traditionally uses on my island ( Canary Island) as part of the grooming and harvest of the vineyard, exploring and casting its texture and turning it into links and chains that evoques the pass and the addition of knowledge through my family generations".

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Juan Castro is a social and cultural anthropologist, who studied at the University of Seville, Spain. Juan moved to Melbourne in 2011 and completed an Advanced Diploma of Jewelry and Object Design at Melbourne Polytechnic in 2016. The connection between anthropology and contemporary jewelry design arose from his final thesis, which focused on adornments and body modification through different cultures and the way in which it develops in contemporary society. His body of work is based on traditional techniques and the inspiration of antique jewelry, all seen from a contemporary point of view.

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Invocations

Read about the exhibition

Material: sterling silver

Dimensions: approx.