DENISE JULIA REYTAn

I’ve posted the work of Julia Reytan before, but love her new collection and the meaning of it!

IN LIVING MEMORY

I’ve been working with plastic and silicone for a long time, but gemstones have always fascinated me as well. Mainly due to my father who has been working with gemstones for over 40 years. The large variety of stones, their colors, their glow & special grinding make a magical combination. Moreover, through the memories associated with stones, they become very special, beloved and lifelong com-panions.
It’s exciting for me to work with stones, because the material is so different from plastic. Here, I find it fasci- nating to overcome the contrasts between the natural and the artificial. 
Earlier this year I received a grant to participate in the »artist in residence«- program at the University of Applied Sciences in Idar-Oberstein. For two months I concentrated on cutting stones. This gave me the chance to experience & understand stones. They have a life of their own, a very different matter and materiality than plastic, a very different aesthetic & energy.
Cutting stones is a challenging technical craft. Anything you cut off or grind is gone. Nothing can be added again. Therefore, my stones are little sculptures created with a lot of physical strength and plenty of cold water. 
I worked with the stones in an intuitive way, to explore new ways and to be guided by my emotions and the moment. The stones and their forms grew from my hands and my mind. My feelings and desires converted into the stones. Thus, I got out of the stones, what was already inside them – and inside me. That’s why these stones are personal time signals, sculptural snapshots.
Back in Berlin I worked the cut stones into necklaces and combined them with other, often non precious parts. Several groups of chains were formed around the stones.
Just as my emotions mix up and merge to a whole new feeling, it was important for the stone necklaces to fuse with colored plastic & other materials to create the meaning they convey.