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Through the Cracks
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: 9th May 2022
Artist: Dixin Zheng
Dimensions:
Other: 13 × 80 × 235 mm (1/2 × 3 1/8 × 9 1/4 in.)
Medium: Copper, chicken eggshell, resin
Object number: J.2023.705.CC
DescriptionDescrption by the designer: While observing different grounds we walk on, I was attracted by the broken floor tiles in Finsbury Park station as they reminded me of cracked eggshells. People walk, run and jump on the ground everyday, their bodies exert pressure on the ground and the ground supports our bodies. This back-and-forth interaction is interesting. Day after day, the flat ground gradually becomes uneven and some tiles become fragile and broken. And since I was a child, every time I saw a broken tile, I wanted to prise it up using diverse methods.
I forged this copper ring that can perfectly attach to my hand and allow my fingers to pass through it. This ring shows different elements: gravity, supporting force, softness, time… Inspired by the traditional eggshell inlay technique in China, I crushed duck eggshells and inlaid them on metal surface with resin to imitate the pattern of those broken floor tiles.
Additionally, eggshell is an agricultural waste, hundreds of thousands of tons of eggshells are discarded worldwide each year (Laca and Díaz, 2017). I collect the eggshells from the eggs I eat everyday and combine this material with jewellery in my own way to use eggshells in a sustainable way. I think jewellery is small sculpture in itself, a sculpture relating to a person’s body gives it new meaning. When people wear this ring, body and jewellery intersect and work together. My jewellery not only decorates the body, but also connects the body to its surroundings.
I forged this copper ring that can perfectly attach to my hand and allow my fingers to pass through it. This ring shows different elements: gravity, supporting force, softness, time… Inspired by the traditional eggshell inlay technique in China, I crushed duck eggshells and inlaid them on metal surface with resin to imitate the pattern of those broken floor tiles.
Additionally, eggshell is an agricultural waste, hundreds of thousands of tons of eggshells are discarded worldwide each year (Laca and Díaz, 2017). I collect the eggshells from the eggs I eat everyday and combine this material with jewellery in my own way to use eggshells in a sustainable way. I think jewellery is small sculpture in itself, a sculpture relating to a person’s body gives it new meaning. When people wear this ring, body and jewellery intersect and work together. My jewellery not only decorates the body, but also connects the body to its surroundings.