We try to understand “life” in cities by observing its infrastructure and development but also by analyzing the day-to-day activities of its inhabitants and the details that make up their identity.
“The city and water” links jewelry with literature through the creation of five broochs based on five stories of my own authorship, inspired by the prose style of Calvino's book, The invisible cities. This series is an expression of my City´s (València) relationship with water.
“The city and water” is a project that aims to associate jewellery and literature, creating a series of five unique pieces based on five texts by the artist that would make up a new series of Italo Calvino's book The Invisible Cities. The series would show the link between the city, in this case València, and water.
The project aims to understand the "life" of cities through their infrastructures and their development, but also to reflect the everyday life of their inhabitants and to project those details that show their inner appearance and make each city unique. Those details that can differentiate it, for better or for worse, and that give it its own identity to the city
With regard to the interpretations that can be made of the cities described by Italo Calvino in The Invisible Cities, the most obvious are those that have to do with architecture and urban planning, or with the social and personal aspect of their inhabitants, although the texts sometimes do not even mention them.
But there are other interpretations. In the stories one can find intangible values and existential questions such as loneliness and happiness; the ephemeral and the eternal. Questions that transcend beyond the visible and material. This is possibly the question that is most interesting in terms of carrying out the project, thus moving away from the mere plastic interpretation of its texts.
Taking into account different aspects, many cities can be the same city at the same time or, on the contrary, the same city can be many cities. In this sense, the aim is to argue that, nowadays, many cities have problems and circumstances that make them very similar, especially in recent times, taking into account such standard aspects as globalisation or the tendency to build hyper-connected cities. However, the same city can also be and is "read", "interpreted" and "experienced" differently depending on the historical moment in which it is studied or the eyes of the person visualising it.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
Sustainability is present in the project, both in its theme and in the production of the pieces.
The main theme (the city and the water) makes us reflect on how water is a fundamental element for the development of cities and civilisation. The geographical location is also very important. Most cities are associated with a river, a gulf or a bay and the control they have over their water infrastructures, because "a developed society is a society that dominates water". It is not difficult to confirm this statement in the Mediterranean environment, if we think of cultures such as the Roman or Muslim ones, which have had such an influence on the development of the city of València.
Likewise, some of the issues dealt with in the project are:
- Climate. València is a sunny city most of the year, but, at the same time, it is the third most favourable place in the world for the DANA or cold drop effect. The 1957 flooding of València is considered the most important urban catastrophe in Europe.
- The problems created by the growth of one of the most important ports in Europe for the city and its surroundings.
- The irrigation system, of Arab origin, created from small communities to form the well-known Tribunal de las Aguas (the oldest of the existing institutions of justice in Europe. It is responsible for settling disputes between farmers over the use and development of irrigation water), a World Heritage Site.
- The 2 riverbeds of the city. The old one, which has been converted into a green space and its transversality makes it accessible to almost all its inhabitants, and the new one, which in the future will be converted into a natural park.
On the other hand, sustainability is also to be found in the materials used to make the pieces. Many of the materials have been recycled and have been worked with artisan jewellery techniques to dignify them.
The packaging that accompanies the pieces is also made of recycled cardboard.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
A fact to highlight is the use of alternative materials (materials not commonly used in classical jewellery such as precious stones and metals) for the elaboration of the project. It was one of the most important characteristics that I set out to fulfil from the ideation, but I had doubts about their integration in pieces of fine jewellery, as they are usually considered "not very valuable materials".
I was also concerned about the fact that they would work individually with their story and also as a collection.
I think I have achieved this by combining materials that only appear in one piece, such as glass or tyre rubber, and which give it personality, with others that, although with different meanings, have helped me to unify the collection, such as oxide plates and spray paint.
These materials, combined with handcrafted metal and taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the riveting and assembly techniques, lead me to the conclusion that I have obtained a work with which I feel identified and which I consider identifies me.
It is the task of contemporary jewellery designers and of this project to make it known that design and jewellery go hand in hand with creativity, art, alternative materials and feelings. To open up new horizons; to break stereotypes and show that a piece of jewellery has more value "for what it says" than for the materials used to create it.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
Jewellery often has a series of components that distance it from the average consumer. The classic metals and precious stones used or the concept of a unique and exclusive piece can generate a very high cost of the product and, with it, a barrier with the general public.
One of the ideas of this project is to break down this barrier by making known my discipline, contemporary jewellery, with the help of other disciplines such as literature or photography. In this way I intend to make the project more accessible and affordable, so that not only the owner of the original piece can enjoy it.
That is why the project is not just a series of pieces of jewellery. It is accompanied by a small storybook illustrated with images of the pieces. Currently, I am still working on a disc-book in which the stories were narrated.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary
One of the great challenges of this project was how to express the themes I would like to work with del (the city) and also to reflect my city, Valencia, through a nearly unknown discipline: contemporary jewellery.
Contemporary jewellery aims to value the work of the designer and the ideas he or she wants to transmit above the cost of the materials used in its construction. We try to move away from the creation of purely aesthetic objects and transmit concepts, feelings and stories with our pieces.
In this case, in order to achieve the intended objectives of proximity, accessibility and identity, from the local to universal issues, we have relied on other disciplines such as writing and photography.
Despite the short time that has passed since the presentation of the project (June 2021), it has been selected to participate in the student exhibition of the Ibero-American Design Biennial that has been held in Madrid between November 2021 and January 2022.
At the regional level, the “Inna” piece has been a finalist in the Valencian Community Crafts Awards, in the category of emerging talents.
As part of the events organised by Word Design Capital Valencia 2022, the piece As-Saqyha will be part of the “Closing fashion show” of the design meeting organised by EASD València Diálogos 2022.
Another of the events in which the project will participate in the coming months will be the 20th anniversary exhibition of the speciality of jewellery at the EASD València on the occasion of the Word Design Capital Valencia 2022.
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.
It is too early to assess the benefits that the project may bring to citizens, but I consider that simply by having carried it out, I am already collaborating in the dissemination of contemporary jewellery, as well as making known the work of Italo Calvino and a good part of the history and origins of the city of València and its hydrological heritage.
As I carried out the historical study for this project, I began to realise that many of the issues I was asking myself at a local level were common to other cities. Globalisation and an increasingly connected world have homogenised human lifestyles and many of their problems are common. This is why, as well as being able to highlight the particularities of my city, I have also been able to discover connections with other environments.
Climate change; ecology; sustainability; public space; pollution; public health; the increase in world population and its poor distribution; the massive generation of waste and its treatment; gentrification; ghetto creation; the loss of identity or globalisation, among many other factors, are aspects that have arisen in our time that require immediate solutions and that occupy and concern the majority of the world's population.
These factors have led in recent decades to the emergence of new integrative approaches, until a few years ago unquestionable, which seek a soft development of urban space as an habitat for human beings and more respectful of their environment, for the common good.
To this must be added the fact that, at this time, a worldwide pandemic is affecting the whole of humanity, which is making it necessary, in the short term and in the future, to rethink all the items mentioned above.
The creation of the pieces based on the writing of its own texts in which Calvino's book is used as inspiration to capture characteristics that give the city of València its personality is innovative. The work of the Italian writer is known and considered by all as a great tribute to cities and their lifestyle at a time when they are in crisis.
As a second tool for transmitting my concerns, the use of contemporary jewellery is also innovative to narrate these stories through the pieces, created in a totally handmade way and loaded with symbolism to represent aspects so typical of València and water, such as its river, its climate, its irrigation system or its port.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.
I believe that transferring the idea of this project to other cities would be truly enriching. The investigation of how something as apparently simple as water is managed in other environments would provide us with knowledge of their particularities and the possibility of applying it in necessary spaces. At the same time, we would undoubtedly discover aspects in common that would reaffirm the needs that we have as individuals and as a global community.
Also, on a more global level, release this project would mean having the opportunity to disseminate contemporary jewellery, a discipline that is currently largely unknown and which can contribute a great deal to enriching the concept of art.
@CarlosCasas Rico, 2021
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