Leaves & Love 2021 – ‘Honey’ Jewelry By Astari G Swatantri

LEAVES & LOVE Jewelry Exhibition at the Winter Garden of Helsinki 14.-19.9.2021
Astari G. Swatantri with ‘Honey’
Meira Rauta with ‘Under the Canopies’
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For the exhibition, I created in total five new jewelry pieces. Here they are:

A pendant with 24K gold layer on the center
Bees love flowers, and I do too… but for a bit different reason :D Flowers have nectar and pollen, the source of food for bees. I also learned that their favorites are flat shaped flowers with clear bright colored centers, and that’s the inspiration of my piece. ‘Gold Mine’ (a new name) is a handsculpted silver pendant with 24K gold on the center of each flower. I attached silver wire as embellishment to resemble the flower stems. Currently I’ve been working on developing this into a collection.

A silver frame with a mini watercolor painting
Many trees provide pollen and nectar for bees, and at the same time, many trees need bees for pollination. That’s the inspiration for ‘A Tree & A Bee’ pendant, a part of my ‘Honey’ themed jewelry. It’s a silver frame with branches and leaves decoration, displaying a mini watercolor painting. I made the frame earlier, every single part was made one by one by hand. This time I created a new watercolor painting of a bee with a blue-green background. It’s quite a tiny painting, only about 25x25mm (1×1″).

A silver ring inspired by a bee bath!
‘Beeing Present’ silver ring is part of my ‘Honey’ themed jewelry. Bees need water and I learned that we can help them by creating a bee bath! Simply use a shallow dish, add some pebbles or other suitable objects for them to stand on safely, fill with water, and place it where the bees often visit in the garden or balcony. A bee bath is like a little ‘present’ for the hard working bees who help us with pollination. The lotus inspired shape with scattered stones symbolizes the virtue of being present, embracing the ever changing and precious moments.

A hexagon pendant inspired by wild flower field
‘Paragon’, silver pendant and earstuds from my ‘Honey’ themed jewelry. In the honeycomb, hexagonal cells keep honey, pollen, and provide space for the young bees. Here, I created a hexagon to frame a delicate flower field. Without the flower field, the hexagon would be just an empty frame. Without the frame, the flower field would become a fragile structure. My piece tells about beauty, both, that’s visible and beyond what’s visible: complex layers that create oneness. I handmade all parts, including each petal of the little flowers, from scratch without any mold.

Mini Silver Teapot pendant: A short video of polishing

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Thank you for visiting Leaves & Love 2021, at Helsinki Winter Garden, at Instagram and on my website. I also would like to thank once more Helsinki Winter Garden for the opportunity to exhibit our jewelry in the gorgeous green environment ♥️ We really appreciate everyone’s support, till next time! :)

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