The
Manchester town hall was completed in 1887. Inspired by medieval romance and
forms found in nature, it was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in the then popular
neo-gothic style. It was built on the crest of the industrial revolution and
celebrated Manchester’s progression to City status in 1853.
The town hall marks the birth of a modern industrial Manchester but interestingly harks back to a nostalgic memory of England’s green and pleasant land, before industrialization.
The silver disc designs in the neck piece, are architectural floral details lifted from the building’s grand entrance, using printouts from digital photos. The exaggerated size of the clasp and the mounting of the silver elements on flexible steel cable are designed to invoke a mechanical feel to the otherwise floral piece. This is to suggest the delicate balance between the environment and industrial progress. The cables also hint at Manchester’s industrial beginnings in its textile heritage. The silver elements are ‘woven’ into the neckpiece like an unfinished weave on a loom.
My choice of materials; silver and steel, as well as my choice of floral and mechanical designs and the use of traditional jewellery techniques along side computer technology, are all used to produce a piece about old and new, heritage and innovation. Like the town hall this piece celebrates a city in constant renewal, contrast and change.
