Meet The Maker - Liz Crow

This week we speak to Liz Crow for our final instalment of our 'Meet the Maker'  blog series. We take a look at the 'Impermanence' collection featuring silver necklaces, bracelets and earrings crafted from molten metals and fine silver chain elements.

When did you start creating?

I’ve been creating in 2D for many years painting portraiture, with my background being in Fine Art.  I have always been interested in the power jewellery holds as beautiful tools to communicate meaning and have completed shorter jewellery courses over the last 10 years to make personal pieces. It was only once I committed to the diploma and started exploring metalwork fully, I felt I had the skills to properly explore creativity and express meaning in the work.

Who inspires you the most?

I am drawn to organic jewellery designers such as Loveness Lee, who combine different textures and contrasts, creating sculptural, unique, and striking pieces.  My values resonate with the brand Alighieri, who focus on creating symbolic pieces that empower women, which all have beauty in imperfection.  To me, jewellery should empower us to love ourselves just as we are and serve as beautiful emblems of positive messages.  Jeanne Damas, the founder of Parisian brand Rouje, embodies the carefree, undone and chic feel, I consider when designing.

What was the inspiration for this collection?

After experiencing a recent health issue, the Impermanence collection was intended as personal wearable emblems of calm and strength in getting through times of change. I wanted the process itself to tell the message, so this was personal to the wearer and not outwardly symbolic for everyone else to see, combining mindfulness and beautiful jewellery design.  I was inspired by the power, freedom and effortless beauty of the movement of the ocean, which is constantly in flux, yet never loses its essence and wanted these values to translate through the molten metal, representing the fluidity of ocean.  Water is an important element in the philosophy of the Tao and it teaches us that embracing a mindset of fluidity allows us to adapt to and accept change, reminding us that resilience can take many forms – "Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.” Lao zu.  By capturing the movement droplets of molten silver as they land organically on the chains, this draws attention to the fleeting and constantly changing nature of life.  Every moment is temporary, to be treasured and experienced in the present moment.

Please can you tell us a bit about your creative process?

My process is very much guided by the metal and making process itself.  I start out with a concept in terms of how I would like the chains on to sit, taking into account the shape of splash I am looking to achieve. I pour the molten silver onto the chain which then decides how to final piece will look – it’s a partnership.  Sometimes the outcome may look different to how I intended, but I then work with the metal to work out what new piece it inspires.  I then sometimes develop pieces further by removing the chains, allowing the solid elements to be wax cast and further manipulated.  Due to the process, all the pieces with chains still attached are complete one of a kinds, as I cannot make casts with pieces containing chains.  This gives each piece a special one off, personal, quality, which is unique in a world where we are so used to mass production.