Michaela Barochová
The neckpiece ‘RATIO’ was developed by Michaela Barochová in Spring 2019 at K2 Jewellery Academy, as a response to that term’s overarching theme ‘Broken’. Michaela focused on human connections in her research and design development. She materialised the ideas using cotton ropes and copper. RATIO was exhibited at Cockpit Arts Open Studios 2019 alongside imagery of a couple wearing the neckpiece.
Artist’s statement about her work:
‘RATIO’ is about changing, finding a new way, exploring possibilities, equality and human connection. The interlocking chains, dedicated for two people to wear, are interwoven with ropes and threads to introduce strength, helping bind the structure together, symbolising human bond. Simultaneously, delicate cotton threads transform the solid copper chain and give lightness to the structure. The piece therefore brings notions of contradictions - lightness and heaviness, distance and affection, separation and connection, as well as presence and absence. The structure is made up from threads that can unravel and fray just like a human relationship, That concept fed into the photographic documentation of the piece which featured a couple intwined with the neckpiece.
As part of developing RATIO, two ‘interactive’ bracelets were made. They were pieces of wool sandwiched between copper rings and disks riveted to each other, the intention was for the wearer to break through the wool with their hand. At K2, I experimented with many cold connections between textiles and metal before finally focusing on weaving and building a large loom on which I made the RATIO neckpiece - a process that took many weeks to complete.
Follow Michaela on Instagram @numinous.jewellery and @michaela.barochova.
About the experience at K2 Academy:
K2 Academy of Contemporary Jewellery is one of the best jewellery schools I’ve ever studied at. It was a perfect follow up to my BA Metal & Jewellery Design course at Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Art and Design in Pilsen, Czech Republic. At K2 I learned a lot of new jewellery techniques including fold forming, sheet deformation, surface decoration, chain making and engraving, to name a few. Katrin Spranger and Kelvin Birk were always thoroughly discussing my ideas with me to help me figure out the best way to materialise my concepts and chose the most suitable techniques for it. I admire them both as dedicated teachers and as artists with mindblowing technical skills and conceptual approaches to their practice. I appreciate their efforts to make students think outside the box and approach jewellery from a conceptual point of view.