hand
crafted
katja
kiviranta
Katja is a jewellery artist from Finland who lives half of the year in Thailand. Eastern exoticism and nordic purity are combined in a subtle and balanced way in my work. I left Finland 1999 to live in The U.K where I worked in fashion, specialised in hair and make-up as a creative stylist. After busy work filled years I decided to follow my intuition and travel. My trip was long and it changed my life. In a way I never returned to Finland fully. I found a second home in Thailand. Through the years of continuous travel, work, life and all the experiences and new skills combined together formed a routine which is now my new life. Past ten years I have concentrated on creating my own eco ethical jewellery brand, The Lumous Story, in Finland. My aim and passion is to create harmonious and enchanting handmade pieces of art that are timeless and empowering.
Fish Bone Jewellery – Pikes
Truth is we humans have filled the world’s oceans with all sorts of rubbish that doesn’t belong there. It will never merge back to nature or be part of harmony and eternal cycle.
A pike’s bones are beautiful, white and smooth. You can discover many naturally beautiful shapes in them.
These pieces of jewellery have been designed by nature in the waters of my father’s home village in Kankaanpää, Finland. These bones are from pike fish caught last winter 2021/22. With my father, I have been ice fishing and hooking the pikes from our home lake called Valkiajärvi, which means the white coloured lake. Here, especially in the winter, fishing is a way to get authentic organic food on the table. Slow food has been familiar to several generations even before this now trendy concept was born. I am proud to be able to join this tradition and turn the pike bones into jewellery, the unused pieces which are left of the handsome fish used for cooking. The spirits of the water are the fabulously skilled jewellers, and these pieces of art are their greetings from the magical water world.
The Fishing Net
Prior to the invention of man-made fibres, natural materials such as hemp and especially cotton were used in fishnets, both of which are also used for denim. A common way to impregnate and saturate the fishing nets was to tar them, which is still used by some net makers.
This tar-scented fishing net brings greetings from far back in time before plastic. Tar was already burned 200,000 years ago and the early finds of net fishing are at least 20,000 years old. In Finland, the most important prey has always been pike, from the bones of which this jewellery collection has been made with handicraft techniques. In Finnish mythology, pike bones have been used for healing, various witchcraft and necessities. We probably all remember that Väinämöinen’s kantele was made of giant pike’s jaws.
reconnect
jeans
Reconnecting with old skills. Standing on a frozen lake crocheting snowflakes. Below me is the lake, only half metre of ice separates us. It’s still pretty clean here in the Finnish forest. But I can’t keep wondering what sort of rubbish and plastic is hidden there, in the lake underneath me. Have the microplastics already found their way there?
Reconnect is about the past, present moment and future. How everything is connected and interwoven together. In this project I view the concept of belonging, what belongs and where? Are things always as we see them? What is found below the surface?
As a jewellery artist and hand crafter I chose to concentrate working with traditional handcraft techniques. I chose macrame, crochet and sashiko as my techniques of repair. All chosen techniques have their own special rhythm and meditative aspect. Reconnect jeans are sustainable and biodegradable DryIndigo denim fabric from Tejidos Royo. Materials for repair are mostly synthetic waste, rubbish that end up polluting us and our habitat. I wanted to focus on mending in a sustainable and naturepositive way, make fabric stronger and to appreciate the imperfection.
Autumn 2021, I received Veerkracht jeans from the FashionLab. Jeans were affected by soil and microbes. Seams in many parts were the only thing keeping them barely together. Basically a lot of fabric had been eaten away, recycled into earth. To my surprise the fabric, which was left, was fantastically colored though. For repurposing them I used traditional handcraft techniques and a variety of materials. Materials I chose were a nylon rice bag and patches from old synthetic jeans that were thrown away. Cotton strings from the old shoe factory were used for stitching and shells and fishbone for decoration. With these materials I created an asymmetrical way to remake, recycle and repair without waste.
In Reconnect jeans I wanted to express my covid time and anxiety; during the pandemic I suddenly found myself in between two worlds. My native birth country of Finland and my other life in the little tropical island by the Indian ocean. Two lives that couldn’t be more different from each other. There had been a lot of adapting, patience and stillness. At the end you must find peace and balance in your own mind. Grace is everywhere.
I wanted to point out in this project how not many things get repaired anymore. I wanted to express compassion for the water element. All plastic floating in the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes is heartbreaking. My time spent working with jeans has been extremely meditative and healing. I discovered new ways and learned about very old beautiful traditions. As a hand crafter, designing stone jewellery, it was wonderful to notice that as I am so used to working with my hands it was effortless to learn new techniques but very refreshing to be part of something so different, wild and creative as the Veerkracht project let me be.
Techniques
Macrame is an ancient Arabic technique also used by sailors. Originating from the 13th century Arabic Artisans, the craft slowly spread throughout Europe and eventually became a common pastime for sailors. The sailors played a large role in sharing the art and keeping macrame alive. The knots had many practical uses on board and decorative knot-tying kept hands and minds occupied during long voyages. Furthermore, the sailors would sell and barter their knotted goods at port.
Crochet was invented as a method for producing substitutes for traditional lace. During the war time in Europe crocheted pieces of handcraft were sold to make a living during the famine. Crochet struggled to shake off its reputation as an inferior craft. But after the war crochet evolved with the fashions and in the 1960s, the Granny square was in vogue.
Sashiko is a traditional Japanese art form and process of stitching philosophy to appreciate the fabric. When practising, the sashiko fabric is stitched with a purpose. Traditionally the worn out pieces of clothing are repaired to make them stronger, so that they can continue to be used and loved longer.