On Sustainability, Our Environmental Footprint & Fragility with ZARIĆ Jewellery
Globally we’ve seen a transition in the way we consume. We’re becoming increasingly more aware and conscious of our environmental footprint and have thankfully seen a focus on sustainability in a variety of industries. When it comes to fashion, there has been a general decline in the quality of garments as the demand for mass-produced and easily consumable goods have become the norm. These considerations led me to a discussion with my sister Nastja about sustainability practices, and she discussed the interesting dynamic about fragility in her work.
I’ve worked with Nastja plenty of times over the years, primarily through my photo project ‘Varsity Club’ that occupied most of my time between 2015-2018. I was toying with the idea of reviving the photo project for a while now but didn’t quite know where to start. When her and I spoke on the phone two months ago, she was planning a trip to Canberra and the idea to bring back Varsity Club for an article on Welluvia became an idea, and soon after a reality.
Today I sit down with Nastja to discuss her studio, her practices relating to sustainability and the environment, her inspirations and the collaborative project we’ve worked on together.
Hi Nastja, what led you to begin ZARIĆ Jewellery?
It was a project born spontaneously from a return home. I’d just gone through a transitionary period where I wasn’t regularly making things with my hands. Sitting in solitude in Dad’s former ceramic workshop & Mum’s former jewellery studio, inevitably had me combine the two, make it my own, fast forward to now.
Your work is predominately centred around ceramics, what is it about this medium that you love working with?
Humans have always been making adornments, ornaments and jewellery from ground-driven clay. As much as we try to emulate the same magic in polymer clay (Fimo), enamel or resin, nothing really compares. There’s something playful and unique about the infinite styles and directions you can take with ceramics.
What are some of the inspirations you are guided by when making your pieces?
I can’t say that I actively seek to draw inspiration in a traditional sense; it is everywhere without needing to search. Making jewellery for me is like a conversation with my environment, switched on even when I’m not sitting at the workbench.
When it comes to inspirations, do you find yourself working more collaboratively with others when creating collections, or is it more of a solo process?
I definitely invite the idea of influence & collaboration with the wonderfully creative people in my life! However creating collections specifically is definitely a solo process, as it’s primarily based on the colours and shapes I’d like to wear at the time.
How has your work transitioned over the years?
My intentions are to stay grounded yet flexible in my approach to making. This hasn’t changed along the way, but the colour palettes, the techniques and the secondary materials certainly have.
Given the duration of this project, there must have been a variety of highlights and moments that have stuck with you. Do you have a favourite?
Without overthinking, I remember a close friend Krei facetimed me a few years ago from my ex-studio and showroom that I had to move out from. She was crying (sorry Krei). The whole building was about to be knocked down, and she wanted to let me know how valuable the space was to her. It felt like a real community in there.
I spoke a bit about sustainability and the current focus towards more environmentally conscious ways of consuming. How is the environment and sustainability important to you and your work?
Sustainability is a completely essential part of my process. I find real, pure joy from harnessing resourcefulness as a tool. This is why I choose to focus on earth driven clays, adorned with antique embellishments. These added materials include recycled leathers, sterling silver, pearls, glass, crystal and stone. There is an interesting aspect of the way we approach the idea of sustainability in fashion, in comparison to how we view it in art, objects, and jewellery. Fragile materials are often considered a luxury across the board, yet it seems to slip when it comes to jewellery. AKA wearable objects.
That’s an interesting point you make on fragility. How does the perspective of fragility relate to your work?
It’s something I often refer back to, considering I work with ceramics - which like glass and silk, need to be treated with special care and a gentle hand. Placing luxury and impermanence in a position where I can analyse what the relationship is and question it. Luxury items are now mass-produced and generally of inferior quality, made to appeal to the mass market. This means our idea of what quality means and looks like has skewed over time, often things considered “luxury” products are no longer of a timely crafting process or expensive materials, but simply branded products.
You’ve worked with Welluvia to create a mini-collection as well as an editorial and mix, how did the process come about?
We created a small set of special ZARIĆ pieces to be launched for sale on Welluvia. The editorial we shot during the lockdown as a revival for photo project Varsity Club, which I’ve collaborated with several times in the past and was super fun to work together again. In addition to this, we made a mix just to tie it all together …!
To finish, what are three words to describe your work:
Authentic, eclectic, spirited.
BELLADONNA
/ Deadly Nightshade
Shot and styled by Varsity Club for Welluvia x ZARIĆ Jewellery
Encompassing both ZARIĆ Jewellery and Welluvia’s passion for flowers, Nastja and I worked on a Varsity Club editorial that encompasses our joint aesthetics. Inspired by the 1973 film ‘Belladonna of Sadness,’ we wanted to recreate the tone and palette of the movie within our editorial. Shot over five days and with limited resources due to the current lockdown, we worked with what we had at hand - accessories in the form of flowers we had in our garden and ornaments in our family home, natural lighting and a makeshift home studio setup.
Angel Trumpets
A capsule collection by ZARIĆ Jewellery x Welluvia
Welluvia is proud to launch an exclusive collaborative capsule collection by ZARIĆ jewellery to accompany our interview with the brand. For this capsule collection, Nastja and I have curated favourites from her past and current catalogues, as well as exclusive new pieces only available on Welluvia.
To find out more about the capsule, you can read about it here.
Lily of the Valley (1er Mai)
A collaborative soundscape by Welluvia x ZARIĆ Jewellery
As the last part of Welluvia’s collaboration with ZARIĆ Jewellery, Nastja and I created a soundscape called Lily of the Valley (1er Mai). We aimed to create a mix that reflected the mood of our editorial, and also emulate the nature of the lily-of-the-valley.
You can listen to the mix and find out about the process in creating it here.
All photography by Varsity Club for Welluvia x ZARIĆ Jewellery
