Monday, December 13, 2010

AGUNG PRIBADI

Located in the highlands of Sulawesi, Indonesia is the Toraja Land, an area and culture virtually untouched by modern technology.

The local people tell personal stories through intricate woodcarvings and Arabica coffee has its origins here. Indonesia is also the home of featured jewelry designer Agung Pribadi.


For centuries, the painstaking art of silversmithing has been passed down through generations in Indonesia helping to establish the country as one of the world’s premier locations for exceptional silversmiths. Their uncanny skill with arabesque, cut-out and granulation details is phenomenal.

Pribadi’s minimalist jewelry is a mix of traditional Balinese designs that include rope twine and granule textures with fresh, modern outlines. A native of East Java, Pribadi worked as an interior designer creating “masks, silk batik, and even stationary items.”

Once he began his “own journey in art and spirituality,” he became interested in silversmith work. “I bought a bracelet from a boutique as a birthday present for my wife. After three months, however, the bracelet broke.

I never like to see my wife disappointed so I tried to make her a bracelet of my own design, and she loved it! Since that day I have made more designs as presents for friends and family.”

For the last 12 years, Pribadi has continued to refine and perfect his techniques making “balance and simplicity” the core of every design. While he incorporates universal designs such as dragonfly jewelry, heart pendant necklaces, and Ohm choker necklaces Pribadi brings a distinctive flair of beautiful surface minutiae and openwork.

His lovely Sterling Silver Your Heart and Mine Choker Necklace, for example, is a nice reimagining to the oft executed heart design. His creation features two cut-out heart designs that slightly overlap within an octagonal frame.

His gorgeous Sterling Silver Distinction Pendant Necklace combines two silhouettes of cut-out motifs, and tiny silver granules for a striking contemporary creation; while his Mystic Cobra Wrap Ring is a sleek interpretation of the coiling, deadly snake.

Pribadi also enlists gemstones like rose quartz, peridot, blue topaz, carnelian, pearls, and green agate into classic gemstone pendants, pearl chokers, and drop earrings.

He has a remarkable capacity to take magnificent traditional Balinese aesthetics and paring it down into timeless, modern jewelry.
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Photo 1 (top right): Sterling Silver Distinction Pendant Necklace
Photo 2 (center): Sterling Silver Floral Twist Earrings with Amethyst
Photo 3 (bottom left): Sterling Silver Bubbles Cocktail Ring

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