Benita Gikaite BA Jewellery Design, Bread Board Necklace, oak bread board with handmade wooden chain mail, 2013
Having come to Central Saint Martins from Lithuania, Gikaite wanted to explore her experience of living in the former Soviet Union: “What fascinated me was the way people used creativity in dealing with daily struggles, the ingenuity of using everyday items to repair the old and create the new. I wanted to use the same principle in my collection. I chose kitchen utensils as symbols of something which every household has and transformed them into pieces of jewellery.”
Using an everyday wooden chopping board, she handmade chainmail to transform the board into a wearable necklace. Though concept-driven and unexpected, the work continues jewellery’s traditional interests in craft and material.
“It’s an object led by the maker’s own personal experience but it's also surreal, it’s not what you normally think of as jewellery and, like the course on which Gikaite studied, it pushes at the boundaries of what is considered jewellery. That you can make a chopping board precious is a feat.”
Sarah Campbell, Curator of the Museum and Study Collection