Join us on 6-7 May at Universitate for a journey of healing and self-discovery as we explore the unique and emotional world of jewelry artistry. In this interview with our designer Layla Li, discover how gemstones, material science, personal emotions, and social connections are intertwined in each exquisite piece. Uncover the power of wearable art at AUTOR Contemporary Jewelry Fair as a source of comfort, courage, and hope in the face of adversity

 

 

Discover Layla Li’s  jewelry world at AUTOR, 6-7 May in Bucharest.

1. How does your background in gemstones and material science influence your work?

The most significant impact of my geology studies on my work has been the exploration of new materials and learning of techniques. I have a notebook for recording and collecting samples. The samples will be included separately according to different categories. I do a lot of different comparison experiments for each type of sample making. This notebook of samples allows me to quickly find the best way to produce the best results in the process of making my work.

For example, for the enamel samples, there are three different materials: purple copper, sterling silver and fine silver; the time classification is from 30 seconds to 2 minutes and 30 seconds, with a new classification every 15 seconds; the colors are also classified according to the different proportions of the mix. At the same time, the notebook for each experiment also allows me to look for new materials that have not yet been explored, such as the stainless steel mesh that I am recently improving to explore the color test.

2. How do you balance aesthetics and function in your designs?

I think this will be a question that I will be looking for answers to throughout my career. Sometimes I lose sight of wearability when I’m going for the three-dimensional look of jewelry. But focusing on wearability can be too limiting. So the pieces I’m working on now don’t have a very detailed production plan, they’re all sketches that I’m tweaking as I go along, so the production cycle for each piece is long. Sometimes the functional mechanism of jewelry can be part of the design, and sometimes it can even be the source of the concept of the work. For example, the flower wish is an element that I extracted from people’s action of making wishes and protecting precious objects.

 

3. Can you talk about the symbolism behind the “jasmine flower” in your collection?

Jasmine for me symbolizes hope. A year ago, my life was suffering from depression for many years. There was always a very gentle voice in my head telling me I would be happy when I died. It was not until one night last April that I firmly rejected the voice because I needed to cast my work tomorrow. but that was when I still felt stressed out, so the next morning I went for a run and suddenly I came across a large patch of jasmine flowers on a street corner. the scent of jasmine flowers was surrounding me, the sun was shining on the jasmine flowers and my body, the jasmine flowers were glowing golden and I felt embraced by the flowers. I stood there and cried for a long time. Since then, the sound of depression has disappeared.

I realized that jasmine is a symbol of hope in my stressful life, and that designing and making jewelry is my jasmine, and the friends and family who have helped me are also my jasmine. And one day I could be someone else’s Jasmine.

4. How does the title relate to the concept of your collection?

The concept of the collection is based on my feelings about my own battle with depression. I believe that jewelry is emotional and that most of the jewelry people wear has meaning to them. Jewelry as a psychological healing tool, it creates an emotion connection with human, becomes a bridge of human emotions without limitation of time and geographical location. Its healing power is able to effect on the creators, wears, and viewers.

The title ’Re-Emotioned by Jewelry‘ means redirecting emotions and I hope that my work will be able to sharing the author’s story of facing depression through this series, it reminds the wearer and the viewer to understand that they are not alone and that we all have the courage to face life.

5. How do you incorporate personal emotions and social connections into your jewelry?

Since its origin, jewelry has deeply reflected the strong emotions of the human psyche. Humans have worn primitive materials such as animal teeth to show the power and respect of nature or wear sacred talismans to honor their religion. Over time, these pieces have developed across a wide variety of cultures. Jewelry goes beyond conventional adornment by channeling personal emotions and social connections.
I choose the jasmine flower symbolizes the promise of happiness. The choice of translucent white represents the alleviation of depression, anxiety, and irritability. Stainless steel mesh is a special material with the texture of fabric yet durability of metal, much like the softness and strength of human emotions. The combination of the gray mesh and white jasmine depicts integration of suffering and happiness experienced in life.

6. How do you think jewelry has the power to heal and redirect negative emotions?

Nowadays, many people think of jewelry as decorative items that embellish clothes. Just like people think that a very common function of artwork is to decorate a room, a garden. We overlook the ability of these works of art to communicate with people’s inner.

Life is a process, a long journey in which survival is included, but only partially; the rest is about emotions. People express their emotions directly through words, expressions and actions. And many subtle expressions of emotion are conveyed through jewelry, painting, music and other forms of art. It is true that a wedding ring has no way to make a couple who are fighting for divorce make up, but at least when they look at the ring, they have a chance to remember how much they used to love each other, and at least they don’t hurt each other now. People who are busy at work pick a small roadside flower and pin it to their hair braid or clothes. This is probably the happiest and most relaxing time of the day for them.

In this hard life, there is something that brings hope, that gives courage, that moves us. The greatest role of art, according to Alain De Botton, is to comfort the soul, to teach us to bear suffering in a more successful way. Jewelry, as a wearable art, means that it can follow the wearer and provide healing or at least relief whenever and wherever it is needed.

It is true that our mental illnesses will not be completely cured by the presence of a piece of jewelry, but at least it can shift our attention to something beautiful, relieve negative emotions, help us face life more courageously, and give us a better chance of waiting for the cure to happen. That wall of jasmine has been growing on the corner for 100 years, blooming every year. I have lived in the city for 3 years and passed by this street often, but I never had the pleasure of meeting it until last year. I hope my work is a reminder for the wearer and the viewer. Maybe with a little more perseverance, we can meet our own jasmine. Maybe with a little more perseverance, we can become someone else’s jasmine.

7. How do you continue to evolve and develop your techniques as a jewelry designer?

Continuously practicing the wild imagination in your head and accepting the challenges you give yourself can reveal barriers to technology, but it can also reveal new opportunities that may exist in other technologies that may not even be jewelry.

8. What kind of challenges did you face when creating Re-Emotioned by Jewelry?

The challenge of this project was to explore the technique of enamelling the empty windows and the material of stainless steel mesh, but the most difficult challenge was to present the proposal. Re-emotioned by jewelry as my graduate thesis topic was questioned by most of the professors as soon as it was presented. Because the project sounded too much like a medical device. It was my first challenge to convince my professors that the majority of my classmates would understand my idea. The process of transforming this idea into a full-fledged work was full of confusion, and I learned to stand firm in the face of objections and doubts.