Background Image: Cleveland Institute of Art / Robert Muller
Light metals and jewelry offer many possibilities for working and creating in a variety of materials and processes, but usually with a foundation of solid working knowledge of nonferrous metals and metalsmithing. Some people concentrate on making unique objects for a single customer. Others move into larger-scale designs for a wider market, such as mass-produced jewelry or table settings. The work settings parallel this format, ranging from single-artist studios to larger companies. But in all cases, a knowledge of the materials must combine with a sophisticated sense of form and style.
In the few years since graduating, Carrie Bilbo (Pratt, Jewelry/Metalsmithing, BFA ’09), has made a dramatic entrance into the rarefied world of fine jewelry design.
Bilbo’s incorporation of cicada wings in necklaces and rings—described as “edgy and chilling” by Nylon—have gained recognition as beautiful body ornaments, and received media attention in Vogue, Sublime, and New York magazine’s blog The Cut, NBC New York, InStyle magazine, and Art Jewelry Forum.
