brooch Hybrid 01, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 75 x 50 x 30 mm




brooch Hybrid 02, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 125 x 50 x 55 mm




ring Hybrid 19, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 45 x 30 x 30 mm




brooch Hybrid 03, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 75 x 50 x 65 mm




brooch Hybrid 04, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 65 x 90 x 55 mm




ring Hybrid 21, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 50 x 25 x 25 mm





necklace Hybrid 17, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | length 300 mm




brooch Hybrid 14, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 100 x 40 x 40 mm




brooch Hybrid 09 & 10, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 70 x 70 x 45 mm,
70 x 65 x 50 mm





ring Hybrid 23, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 40 x 30 x 30 mm




brooch Hybrid 11, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 90 x 90 x 55 mm




brooch Hybrid 11, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 90 x 90 x 55 mm





brooch Hybrid 08, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 65 x 85 x 40 mm




brooch Hybrid 15 & 16, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 65 x 75 x 50 mm,
80 x 80 x 45 mm




brooch Hybrid 07, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 90 x 70 x 25 mm




ring Hybrid 22, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 50 x 30 x 20 mm




brooch Hybrid 05, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 65 x 85 x 50 mm




ring Hybrid 20, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 40 x 40 x 30 mm




brooch Hybrid 11, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 80 x 80 x 40 mm




brooch Hybrid 13, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 95 x 40 x 30 mm




necklace Hybrid 18, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | length 300 mm




necklace Hybrid 18, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | length 300 mm




brooch Hybrid 06, 2014 | chrome plated brass, dental resin | 75 x 60 x 55 mm

Hybrids

For centuries artists have tried to define the human form by using circles, squares, planes and lines. Da Vinci's Vetruvius Man or Rietveld's chairs are known the world over. But the body defies such abstractions, it rather should be looked at as an alternating landscape with sloping transitions and undulating contours determined by the muscles. It is only when a designer explicitly intends to follow or support the body, that other shapes emerge. Clothes or corsets are clear examples, as are the wooden leg brace and fiberglass armchair shell designed by the Eames. It is at such occasions that Katja Prins starts to pay attention: when objects aren't just beautiful, but also testify to exploration, functionality and adventure.


To prepare for her new collection of jewellery Prins looked for ways to translate visual associations connected with the human body to a smaller size. Using an artificial material produced for medical purposes, she managed to develop three dimentional shapes that are expressive, without becoming to obvious. They were supplemented with abstract elements, hammered from brass and subsequently polished and chomium-plated.

Prins isn't only fascinated by shapes related to the human frame, but also by the fact that nowadays man can actually intervene in the body. And so she incorporated fragments of medical instruments into her new work. In this way she made jewellery pieces that celebrate an often neglected beauty of the body, in relation with the efforts people make for its perpetuation.

Does Prins jewellery result in merely sweeted temptations? Confronted with the work, most people initially are reserved: the cool, shiny chomium and a reminder of doctors implements create a distance. Yet, instead of suspicion, a different reaction would be more appropiate: astonishment about ourselves and our many, sometimes puzzling accomplishments.

Ward Schrijver, art historian and architect, Amsterdam, NL (© Galerie Rob Koudijs)
Photography: Merlijn Snitker