Arts Thread

My project’s name is Joiana, standing for the Catalan word for jewel ‘joia’, and the initials of the Catalan words for granddaughter ‘néta’ and grandmother ‘àvia’. We could translate it as the jewel of the granddaughters and the grandmothers. Joiana is a jewelry collection inspired by the intergenerational relationship between grandmothers and granddaughters. These connections that are established over time in which many stories and memories are shared. Knowledge that was been transmitted orally over generations of women but that hasn’t been registered in academic fields. The jewelry collection wants to emphasize and honor these networks between women that have been going on throughout decades, and from which we have so much to learn. The collection is made up of seven pieces that are used as hair jewelry. I wanted to focus on hair because it’s very usual that grandmothers comb their granddaughter’s hair or mothers to daughters. The action of combing creates this environment of protection and complicity, and act of love from one generation to another. Focusing on the hair was a way to honor and remind us of these moments of connection between generations of women. The symbol of the flower, in its changing states of life, has represented for me the ephemerality and change, the transformation between generations. A flower that is born, grows and dies, leaving a seed from which another flower is born. Jewelry allows this transfer and accumulation to be inherited, transmitted materially and to survive through time, constantly re-signifying itself. The seven pieces are made of silver, reminiscent of the objects that were formerly used in daily life, and that many of our grandmothers keep at home (such as cutlery, thimbles, etc.).