Shiqi Fu’s wearable clouds follow the contours and volumes of her childhood daydreaming moments. With her collection, A brilliant fantasy of the sky, she strives to rekindle the curiosity and imagination of her jewellery wearers, tapping into nostalgia and the ever-nurturing bond we have with the natural world.
When you encounter Shiqi’s art jewellery collection, A brilliant fantasy of the sky, you feel a sense of easiness, you escape the quotidian chaos, adorning yourself in ethereal jewellery, reminiscing about simpler times. Through her pieces, she explores one of the most fragile and fruitful periods of our life: childhood. A period that comes with innate curiosity and unlimited creativity.
Her childhood summoning pieces are designed specifically for light-hearted, ever dreaming and unapologetically hopeful wearers. Every volume, small detail and light reflection ignites the wearers’ imagination and bonds them with natural, organic forms that complement electric personalities, copious laughter and new, unexpected ideas. Through their elegant playfulness, Shiqi’s pieces are not only a dream-driven instrument of beauty, but they can also heal with their attached optimism.
Shiqi’s jewellery design is positioning itself between two realms, showcasing a mix of vibrant, mystical, positive nostalgia. The first realm is that of personal history, of personal stories and ideas kept together by memories and imagination. The second realm is that of natural elements, elements that paradoxically keep us grounded and allow us to be creative, blurring the lines between what is real and what is fantasy.
INSPIRATION AND BACKGROUND
This magical realism side of her work is influenced both by her own childhood and by artists that inspired her style along the way. When asked what pushed her to pursue this career path, she mentions her lifelong artistic bond with the works of Scottish Art Nouveau artist, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The Art Nouveau natural forms penetrated her work slowly, creating a beautifully crafted melange with the ethereal approach mentioned above.
Keeping in mind that the Art Nouveau movement did not only create room for new forms of expression, we know that it literally crashed the wall between fine arts and applied arts, contributing to the development of art jewellery design. There is also no coincidence when one discovers that Shiqi moved from China to the United Kingdom, following Mackintosh’s footsteps and studying at the Glasgow School of Art. She fell in love with his work, which, like hers, uses natural motifs, with elegant detailing and functionality.
Collage of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s works.
Shiqi’s academic background is in jewellery and silversmithing design, with an accent and personal preference for curation-related classes and jewellery technology classes. The jewellery technology class guided her through the creation process, teaching the most suitable techniques for her style and vision. The curation courses gave her a deeper understanding of different art styles and themes, simultaneously offering the know-how on conveying messages of various artists and their artworks for a wider audience through exhibitions and other cultural events, with the end-goal of amplifying their work and bringing them artistic recognition. These skills taught her how to express and showcase her own feelings through her work and to further promote it.
THE HEALING POWER OF NATURE
The collection A brilliant fantasy of the sky is centred around childhood memories, as the author herself states. The dearly missed warm and nurturing feelings of a childhood in the countryside are resurfacing when the need to heal from the hustle and bustle of an urban society arises. The recreation of that youthful, hopeful and calm feeling through wearable art is a great achievement in terms of healing.
Although many artists take their inspiration from nature, Shiqi concentrates her interest on clouds, ever fascinating shapes of the sky that became a limitless source for her artistry. She insists on conveying the feelings that come with the nostalgic cloud hunt, not the shapes, volumes and colours extracted from nature. These elements are merely choices that amplify certain sentiments.
When one tries to read the feelings emitted by her jewellery, either by touching, observing or wearing the pieces, one cannot not be struck by naivety, curiosity and the fascinating yet scary transitional feeling of growing, of expanding and evolving. From childhood to adulthood, passing through the stormy period of adolescence, Shiqi’s collection invites the wearer to explore their own connections with nature and childhood.
“What I hope to share with people through my artwork is the importance of embracing and protecting the childlike curiosity that is often obscured in the complex adult world. I think it’s very valuable for people to be curious about the world. When you are young, you’re not bound by fixed answers, you look at everything with imagination and creativity. That is an exceptionally unique state of mind”
THE TECHNIQUE BEHIND THE CLOUDS
Shiqi is using techniques that match her inspiration source. She follows movements like enclosing, piercing and wrapping, replicating them with her press forming techniques. With many days of experiments behind, she clearly achieved a perfected visual effect.
In her magical ritual she chooses to use enamels, being the most suitable material to reflect the subtle variations of colour. Some of her pieces are also complemented with spray painting techniques or embellished with different materials such as precious stones, metals or textiles.
“I often have a rough preconception of the piece before I create it. Therefore, I know to stop when I think a small sample of the piece is now ready for the desired look. I believe the finished piece must be free of craftsmanship problems or any flaws, even in the details”
MOVING FORWARD
After finalising her studies, Shiqi permanently moved to the cosmopolitan city of London, where she lives and works today. Shiqi exhibited her works from the last three years all over the world, being acclaimed and recognised internationally for her unique sky-inspired collections.
The events and exhibitions she took part in were the China International Metal Art Exhibition, the Romanian Jewellery Week and Rome Jewellery Week. Over the years she also featured in some of London’s art and design galleries. These exhibitions helped her develop as an artist and gradually made her jewellery visible to a larger audience, from curators to art critics, jewellery design enthusiasts and fellow art and design students.
“Many of these exhibitions feature jewellery and handmade artists from around the world. Showcasing my work together with them broadened my horizons, which is beneficial to my own creation process. By working with other professional artists, I can observe their interesting and original thought processes, see how they put ideas into concrete, lively creations”
Besides being a jewellery artist, Shiqi also contributes to activities, seminars and events developed by various artistic and cultural organisations, putting her skills and eye for beauty to good use for the community.
You can discover more about Shiqi Fu and her work by following her on Instagram. If you live in London, stay updated on her upcoming exhibitions and keep supporting your local art jewellery designers!
Written by Maria CHIRILA, for AUTOR Platform, August 2023.
