AKA Jewellery x Pavel Banka
Inspired by ‘construction’, particularly how objects work and constructed, AKA Jewellery creates jewelleries with a duality of art object and wearables. In search of work of ‘construction’, we found photographer Pavel Banka’s ‘Construction’ Series in his recent book ‘Reflection’ published by Schilt Publishing & Gallery. In collaboration with jeweller Vratislav Novák, Banka explores the escape from physical reality and experiments with the construction of mirror and lights.
Trained in metal working and jewellery design, Ausra Bankauskaite began creating contemporary pieces that bridged the worlds of art object and jewellery. Aesthetics and functionalities are fused together with careful consideration of how the construction works on the human body. Harmony with the human body is essential to the design of AKA Jewellery: the jewellery must not disturb the line of the body, instead working with the human form to enhance and extend its aesthetic lines. With structure and functionality as the guiding concept of the brand, the result is an immaculate, non-iterative design that functions as an object when not worn, like a small architectural sculpture.
Fusing traditional photographic genres, Pavel Banka’s work borders between real and unreal. His abstract work seems like a portal from reality to another dimension of that reality. In his book ‘Reflection’, he revisited his early photographic series. The Construction chapter develops the theme of vanishing of the captured object through work with mise-en-scène and the photographic image itself. Images in the Construction chapter were created in collaboration with jeweller Vratislav Novák, who “frees the pieces of their physical nature” and created jewelleries that are symbolic objects and could not be worn in reality. Inspired by the idea of escaping the physical reality, Banka constructed the mirrors installation, and experimented with casting light and shadow upon body, face and the environment. “Thanks to this, I started to see the human figure much more like an object,” as he talked about ‘Construction’, “it is true that photographing glass objects led me to contemplate the possibly illusory nature of the seen, of reality as perceived through our eyesight.”
Featuring
Fashion design // AKA Jewellery
Photography (non-fashion) // Pavel Banka
Fashion photography // Karolis Kaminskas