Interactive Jewellery

On my first post I am going to focus on an interactive jewellery project that I am working on with Dr Larry Jordan. Following are a few musings on issues of hyper symbolism within jewellery. The Carrying Wellness project is focused on augmenting jewellery, which is already a hyper symbolic object, with additional functionalities. In this case the jewellery carries the capacity to purify drinking water of arsenic, making nomadic journeys safer and more viable. Following is an image of the neckpiece which contains mesoporous iron oxide and measuring device in lid. Working with this type of project raises all sorts of interesting issues. Some of these were articulated yesterday during an interview with The Age during which the reporter brought up the idea of jewellery being something of whimsy. Through augmenting the behavioural potentials of jewellery we somewhat take away its innocence. It is no longer something that can just be interchanged at will without thought.
To this I responded that there are different types of emotional relationships with different types of jewellery. A wedding ring has perceived value above and beyond its material worth. Through augmenting the healing potentialities of a wedding band we increase its significance. A few thoughts…