Phases of a Flower

Although the following five pieces are all individual with their own separate meanings, as a collective, they form one whole installation exhibiting the metaphor of my five year study period at DUT. The installation consists of five flowers in sterling silver and copper in the different phases of a flower's life cycle ranging from a fresh new bud to a flower that is dropping its petals. 

Bud: 

We can see that the bud is still tight, with all of its petals condensed and wrapped into a ball. To me, this phase of a bud represents me in my first year starting off as a jewellery design student at DUT. 

at this time, everything was still new to me, a new town, new faces, a new living environment away from my friends and family members. I use the bud as a symbol to express my state of mind and emotions that I experienced during this phase of my life. The words that I can use to pinpoint my emotions associated with this piece include:

unconfident, unsure, vulnerable, young, insecure, inexperienced, hesitant.

Not only do these words represent the emotions that I experienced in my first year, but also my level of skills as a jewellery designer. In this phase, I am completely inexperienced as a jewellery designer. The closed up bud represents my knowledge of jewellery design, at this stage, I am completely unaware of the true meaning of jewellery and the understanding thereof. 

Tight Bud, Sterling Silver

In this phase, the bud is visibly larger than the previous picture and it is opening-up slightly and revealing more of its internal structures. this represents my growth as a person as well as the growth of my skills. I used the bud in this phase as a symbol to represent my phase of 'warming up' to my new environment in my first year at DUT. I think of the sun's rays hitting the petals of a daisy, giving it the strength to open. One can see that some of the petals are starting to open up, this represents me becoming more confident in my new environment as I grow more secure. In this phase, I am still inexperienced as a jeweller as well as living on my own, this is represented through the closed petals in the centre of the design. The open petals on the perimeter of the bud represent my growing knowledge, security and experience.

Bud, Sterling Silver