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Floral Bodies - Workshop
2024
Wearable object
copper pipe, wire, fresh flower
Floral Bodies was a workshop I initiated for the Jewellery-Linking Bodies Department Open Day at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2024. Each year, the different departments organise an event or exhibition for the Open Day, offering visitors and prospective students an opportunity to experience the department’s specific focus and approach through direct participation.
For the 2024 Open Day, I initiated the concept of a temporary wearable piece using flowers as the primary material. Floral Bodies explored the human body as a “vase” for floral arrangements, creating temporary wearable pieces that exist between jewellery, body, and flower arrangement. Through this process, I considered how flowers might be positioned on the body and questioned the permanence traditionally associated with jewellery.
The workshop also challenged participants to reconsider the familiar ways in which jewellery is worn. Instead of treating the body simply as a surface for wearing an object, the activity encouraged participants to explore the body as an active space that could support, hold, and transform the work. The temporary nature of flowers further introduced a sense of change and impermanence into the experience.
Through the relationship between body, material, and participation, this workshop aimed to embody the spirit of Jewellery-Linking Bodies by exploring jewellery beyond conventional objects and ways of wearing.
Outcomes from pariticipants
My own exploration
With special thanks to my Jewellery-Linking Bodies classmates for their generous support and collaboration in bringing the workshop together