Clare Poppi is an artist living and working in Brisbane, Australia. After achieving first class honours in her Fine Art degree she received an ArtStart grant from the Australia Council for the Arts and has continued to make art, establishing a studio space with three other jewellers from which to create her work. Her primary practice is in jewellery & metal-smithing, focusing on sustainable design and wearable art. Her pieces ranges from jewellery growing live grass to nature inspired designs using recycled metals and bio-degradable components. Clare arrives at her designs by experimenting with placement and juxtaposition, and using her sense of materiality to determine a resolved piece. However, this spontaneous approach is always tempered with a strict adherence to sustainable and ethical work practices, including environmentally conscious studio techniques andCradle-to Cradledesign practices. Website:www.clarepoppi.com | Facebook:Clare Poppi Jewellery | Instagram:@clarepoppi
Katie Stormonth Co-Founder & Partner: 2012 – Current
Katie Stormonth is a contemporary jeweller based in Brisbane, Australia and is one of the founding members of Bench (a collective jewellery studio). She completed a Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours in 2011 and currently works as the technical officer at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. As an emerging artist she participates regularly in exhibitions both locally and interstate. Her practice aims to expand the boundaries of wearable body adornment through experimentation of materials and forms. She constructs alluring arrangements of repetitious forms and painted surfaces, highlighting the patterns of bold and decorative chased line work, aiming to provoke the wearer to both see and feel the pieces. Website:www.katiestormonth.com | Instagram:@katiestormonth
Nellie Peoples Partner: 2015 – Current
Nellie Peoples is an emerging artist currently working and living in Brisbane, Australia. She is a member of Bench, a collective workshop space for emerging contemporary jewellers. Her practice is in gold and silversmithing, in which she explores the constellation made between objects and people; and how the object itself plays into the connections of those who surround it by representing on-going narratives. Her designs and objects highlight and reflect the conservation of those connections that encircles the object; in other words, the beholder’s mark on it, whether that is through a physical mark, or the dialogue that encompasses the object is central to my making. The aesthetical and theoretical underpinning of her practice is built upon her formal education in the varying, yet intersecting, fields. In her practice she brings together the threads of these each field, with the body at the center of the experience. There is a constant examination of the making of precious objects and the potential connection that can evolve between an object and those who invest in it. The interaction between the beholder and the object is paramount, whether be as intimate as a ring or vessel to share a meal. Website:www.nelliepeoples.com | Facebook:Nellie Peoples Studio | Instagram:@nellie_peoples