SCAD’s second-annual FASHWKND officially commenced on Thursday, May 17 in Savannah. The four-day event takes place in Savannah and Atlanta, celebrating the future of fashion with original designs curated from the finest SCAD School of Fashion student collections.
The celebrations kicked off at the jewelry trunk show where students, professors and locals browsed and purchased unique designs by SCAD jewelry students, alumni and faculty members. The two-day show, open from Thursday, May 17 to Friday, May 18, was free and open to the public. The event took place in SCAD Savannah’s Jen Library.
Rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and brooches were displayed in the lobby of the library where students, faculty and locals browsed the tables and display racks while the artists stood by to discuss their work and assist guests. Among attendees were SCAD Atlanta luxury and fashion management professor Luca Lo Sicco and SCAD Atlanta School of Fashion mentor Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia — who is the founder, president and creative director of his namesake jewelry firm.
Students were able to submit designs of their choosing, according to Savannah graduate jewelry student Sarah Murphy. “So it’s a time when students can really experiment with materials and design,” she said. Submitted designs go through an approval process to make sure the quality of the pieces are top notch.
Although students are given free rein to experiment and submit whatever they want, most of the pieces on display, although unique, were very wearable. This was done specifically by design. “The trunk show is good for students because a lot of what we make in the studio is contemporary art based,” Murphy said. “These are more wearable.”
While students may be creating more avant-garde looks in the classroom, the jewelry trunk show was an opportunity to produce more commercialized looks for sale to the general public. The effect was evident in the styles of many of the pieces. It was easy to imagine the designs gracing the shelves of a boutique.
Students handled the task of creating unique yet wearable pieces well. Each piece had the feeling of being one-of-a-kind because no two pieces, although similar in style, were exactly the same. Whether because a change in color or slight design modification, even the most wearable pieces felt exclusive.
Embracing uniqueness is central to Murphy’s design philosophy. Currently working on her thesis, she is interested in focusing on the idea of embracing imperfection, something usually frowned upon in the jewelry industry.
“Right now I’m drawing inspiration from the Japanese Kintsugi, which is an ancient technique of repairing,” she said. Kintsugi, meaning “golden joining,” is a centuries-old technique where broken ceramic pottery is repaired with gold. The philosophy embraces flaws. Cracks are highlighted rather than masked.
Embracing flaws goes against everything we know about the jewelry industry. Although people desire uniqueness, they also desire perfection. Take diamonds, for example. The fewer flaws in a diamond, the more perfect the stone is, the more valuable it becomes. Murphy focuses on the idea of imperfection and the beauty that can come from its uniqueness. “The idea of jewelry is so controlled,” she said. “I want to challenge that.”
The jewelry trunk show was not only a chance for jewelry design students to sell their pieces, but also a chance for other students to begin to curate their own jewelry collection, perhaps snagging a piece of history in the process by purchasing a piece from the next big thing in jewelry design.
For more information on all of the upcoming events at SCAD’s FASHWKND, visit their site here.
