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Artist Profile

Alicia Hannah Naomi July 2020
Alicia photographed by her partner, Reece Hobbins, in January 2022.

Alicia Hannah Naomi is a contemporary jeweller from Melbourne, Australia.

First introduced to contemporary jewellery through an opportunity to work for the goldsmiths Francois and Nicholas Payet in 2003, Alicia felt a sense of resonance towards this less conventional approach to adornment. Her time with the Payet brothers sparked the desire to further express herself through the medium of contemporary jewellery an artist herself.

Alicia completed the Advanced Diploma of Engineering Technology (Specializing in Jewellery) at the Box Hill Institute of Technology in 2013, where she received the Most Outstanding Student Prize, and furthered her professional development with a Jewellery Gem Setting course at Melbourne Polytechnic in 2019.

Her body of work is inspired by the way environmental landmarks evolve – both by influence of nature and interference of human inhabitants; but curiously considering human efforts to conserve and rehabilitate the environment.

Alicia uses the technique of lost wax casting in her practice. This process involves carving and sculpting forms and textures by hand in jeweller’s wax that will later be cast into precious metal objects for wear. Designing and creating through wax modelling, her outcomes are the direct result of her making process; giving each work a measure of irregularity complimentary to the organic source inspiration.

The contrast between roughly hewn, rocky surfaces and polished, smooth interiors are intended to communicate permanent change; delivering her key message that this too shall pass – describing her jewellery as 'perfectly imperfect'.

Through the intimate narrative of personal adornment, Alicia shares her sense of resonance towards the unconventional; empowering meaningful and unique expressions of identity for her clients.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am enchanted by the stoic resilience of the landscape and I find humility in the knowledge that - in the face of an impending ecological disaster inflicted upon the planet by the human civilization; long after our species destroys itself and those around it - the Earth itself will endure.
 
Through the application of organic textures and asymmetric forms, my body of work is a celebration of the transience of all things in nature, and pays homage to the elegance in objects that carry the burden of their years with dignity and grace.

ON SUSTAINABILITY

Most Alicia Hannah Naomi jewellery is made to order. This is an environmentally unburdened business model where every piece is made with intention, and the studio does not create in excess.

All Alicia Hannah Naomi jewellery is made from recycled metals. Metal supplied by my vendors comes recycled already, and scrap metal that is produced in the studio, right down to the tiny flecks of glittery metal dust, known as lemel, is collected and sent away for recycling.

There are currently no established bodies that trace the gemstone supply chain from mine to market. I source gemstones as ethically as is possible, from fair-trade suppliers in India and Afghanistan, through to local Australian suppliers, lapidarists and fossickers.


Education

2013      ADVANCED DIPLOMA, ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY (JEWELLERY AND OBJECT DESIGN) – BHIT
2019      JEWELLERY GEM SETTING, INTERMEDIATE LEVEL – MELBOURNE POLYTECHNIC 

Collaboration

2015      AHN x S/T – IDRIS (SOME/THINGS CONCEPT/STORE) – PARIS
2014      AHN x S/T – GRIS (SOME/THINGS CONCEPT/STORE) – PARIS

Retailers

ALICIA HANNAH NAOMI – ONLINE
FALLOW – ONLINE
FIAT LUX – SAN FRANCISCO, ONLINE
LOOQ DESIGNERMODE – ZURICH