To wear or not to wear

Marta Boan is a jewellery artist and designer based in Barcelona. Her original jewellery with its extremely laconic and precise use of material has provoked international interest. Exploring the nature of traditional jewellery, the artist seems to lead the viewer to the borders of reality and unreality, where colours, forms and materials are treated as equal and an unexpected lightness and loyalty has been achieved through months of fine tuning.

“To wear or not to wear” is a question asked by lovers of both traditional and contemporary jewellery practices. In her creative process, Boan offers first and foremost the opportunity to understand and identify with the work, and only then to decide.

Boan’s work has always been characterised by a symbiosis of the conceptual with skilful knowledge and handling of precious metals. Dissecting jewellery archetypes, she seeks a new aesthetic expression. Even though the process may begin with an examination of the origin of geometric elements and the mathematical structure of a piece of jewellery, the result is nevertheless not rational and cold, but instead intense, simultaneously fragile and strong, as if an equivalent of the complexity of being human.