The Overview - September Issue out now

If you are a jewellery geek and not reading the overview.... we need to change that.  Send an email and we'll add you to the list.





This is the fourth outing of Overview and, like
other periodicals that come out at this time,
the September Issue is the biggest one yet.
Big because there are more pages and more
contributors than before, and Big because
it looks at those issues that loom large over
contemporary jewellers in Aoetearoa, New
Zealand. And just like the fashion mags, in
this issue hot items of interest sit alongside the
perennial classics that return every season.
Here at the Guild headquarters there has been a
great deal of discussion surrounding the issues
faced by jewellers year in and year out. Who are
we; what is it we do; and why do we even do it?
Do we need definitive answers we ask? Does
it help to catagorise ourselves and our making
in such a way? And does definition change the
substance of what we do and the impact it can
have? Jewellery is still jewellery whether we call
it craft, art, design or fashion, right? Not so it
transpires, and even within our peer group there
is a wide range of opinions on these matters.
Some align themselves with movements and
groups, while others refuse definition and
believe good work is just that; good work. We
have had disagreements and there has been
awkward silences. Much cake has been eaten.
We suspect that there is no teleological jewellery
truth to which we all aspire. Instead, a number
of positions can mark out a valid spot on the

contemporary jewellery spectrum and it is
where the maker, the curator, the writer; all
invested parties, locate themselves that makes it
interesting. So in this issue we have decided to
make a call, and put our stake(s) in the ground
in the hope that lightening doesn’t strike.
- Raewyn Walsh from the Icebreaker, Overview issue 4, 2011