Browsing by Author "Teräväinen, Karoliina"

The purpose was to study the reasons why Finnish jewellery designers and artists have chosen jewellery as their means of expression, what are the starting points for designing and making their jewellery and what it means for them to make jewellery by hand. Jewellery designers and artists often find it difficult to verbalize their work. The purpose of the study was to reveal the world of ideas of jewellery designers and artists and the backgrounds of these difficult-to-say things. The theoretical framework of the dissertation dealt with the development of artistic jewellery in Finland, jewellery designations and the significance of making jewellery by hand for jewellery makers. The study was a qualitative interview study using phenomenography as a research strategy. The data was collected using a thematic interview as an interview method. Five jewellery designers and artists were selected and three of the target individuals participated in the group discussion and two of them were interviewed as individuals. What all the interviewees had in common was that they design and make their own jewellery by hand. The group interview data consisted of 35 spelled pages, person D's interview of 20 spelled pages, and person E's telephone interview of 15 spelled pages. The analysis of the data was theory-based and used thematic design as a method. The themes of the analysis arose from the concept of the theory, but their meanings and contents came from the data. The reason for the choice of jewellery as a means of expression appeared to be essentially related to the nature of jewellery as a bodily object and its relation to the proportions of the human body. Jewellery was seen as a fascinating, limitless, and opportunity rich means of expression. The accuracy and technicality of jewellery making were also reasons for choosing jewellery, as well as how the design and manufacture process of the jewelry feels like the right way for the interviewees to express themselves. The starting points for designing and manufacturing jewellery were largely based on the jewellery makers themselves, their values, thoughts, and preferences, both in terms of the materials, themes and the usability of the jewellery. The meanings of touch, creating, self-expression as well as the mental well-being and lifestyle of the jewellery makers came to the fore in the meanings of making jewelry by hand. The professional perspective also emerged, as the focus of the research was on the professional design and manufacture process of jewellery.