Brune Boyer
artist jewellery maker, teacher, researcher…
Creations
The conversation with the experienced speaker called jewellery puts me on my toes. Indeed, jewelry and the mastering of its techniques seem to continuously escape me; its plasticity fascinates me, as the object takes form, the ideas for further explode. The acceptance of uncertainty in the process of “making” forces a rejection of pre-existing ideas.
It’s not always comfortable, yes, but it keeps us alive.
Teaching
Since 1998, I split my work as artist of jewelry with teaching, as it is a part of my way of being a “jewelry-maker”. This includes helping the development of the newer generations of jewelry-makers, asking again the important questions and refreshing our ideas. I hope to make my experiences and knowledge available for those who wish to explore their path in the field of jewelry. The challenge is to help every person find their own way.
Research
Ever since my work as a “contemporary jeweller”, I do not stop questioning the purpose of my art. The question “what is it that I make” follows me non-stop, pushing me towards new points of views. The answers to this continuing question gave way to various collections of jewelry which each represent a new question about what jewelry is. The mixture of research in the definition of jewelry and the research of plastics, processes, and techniques presents a material demonstration of what could jewelry be.
But the more experience I gain in my workshop, the less I am able to accurately describe what I am looking for. Every time I think I have gotten close to my object, it escapes me again, which reminds me of the alchemist’s quest for gold within the pages of Gaston Bachelard.
Between 2011 and 2020, I took it upon myself to don the hat of an ethnographer to explore a new way of questioning jewellery, as an object and as an art. The idea was to incorporate ethnography for a “radical” plunge into the process and attempt the understanding of how a piece of jewellery becomes “contemporary”.
Collaborations
Generation after generation, from schools to associations, contemporary jewelers have constantly sought to define their craft and to promote it beyond their own circle. The number of collectives attests to this shared need, which I, too, have not escaped.
On the other hand, learning to manage solitude and the uncertainties tied to studio practice has not been without the support I found by actively participating in various associations, including Corpus, La Garantie, association pour le bijou, and D’un bijou à l’autre.
