People of all cultures have adorned the body since ancient times. Our modern clothing and accessories can lead us back throughout the ages to the primitive desire for ornament. First expressed through body painting and tattooing, this urge was followed by ornaments specifically for different parts of the body, and later by body coverings including clothing, hats, and shoes. Within the dichotomy of idiosyncrasy and conformity of the human species there has always been room for personal interpretations and participation, hence my love of observing people and how they interact in their environment.
I believe that there is an art in jewelry and dress and that they complement each other quite beautifully, using the body as their playground. Worn close to, or on the body they are both powerful and intimate in nature, and contribute to our social and personal environment as we move within it. Central to my interests are these unavoidable interactions and how we participate with them.
My jewelry evolves through being made. I have a starting place with no specific ending in sight, to me a truly enjoyable and organic process that is tuned in to both intuition and knowledge at the same time. Enriched by my curiosity in the parallel yet sometimes blurry line between jewelry and apparel, my process is fueled by a direct response to materials. I work with complementary yet very different materials. Traditional to jewelry, gold, silver, and precious stones are fairly rigid and hold their shape. Traditional to apparel, fibers such as silk are soft and conform. My work references and employs handwork such as stitching, weaving, and knotting, yet also makes use of industrial production and precision in materials such as screen. Repetition and formal elements of shape, color, texture, and dimension are essential. Grids, both mechanical and organic used in many variations, creating a surface that allows for different applications of the same materials—making evident qualities innate to them. These structures and supports are integral, sometimes they are left and appear as a key design element, other times they disappear and only the handwork can be seen. Using contrasting materials side by side, with the result a functional object meant to be worn on the body, I am able to create the layered effect I am interested in, triggering both metaphoric and literal interpretations. Not stationary or static, all forms of adornment mean different things on different people and certainly at different times. They are a reflection of both the wearer and of a rich history of adornment. - Raïssa Bump 2007
