Bite Autumn 2012

bite jewellery

Deme Wolfe-Power

HER CONTROVERSIAL JEWELLERY PIECES, USE OF UNUSUAL

MATERIALS AND CLEVER DESIGNS

HAVE GOT DESIGNER DEMEWOLFE-POWER NOTICED. HIGHLY MOTIVATEDWITH AN

S he designs with materials that many of us may consider unnatural and repulsive but that does not stop contemporary jewellery designer DemeWolfe-Power from attempting to challenge the conventions of attraction and repulsion through her work. Creating pieces of jewellery from objects such as extracted human teeth, taxidermy bird anatomy, human hair, animal furs and hides, Deme combines these elements with traditional materials such as sterling silver, gold, pearls and semi-precious stones to present her jewellery as a focal point of art, discussion and reasoning. She says, “I am trying to question what people find unnatural and repulsive and in what context does something that was natural or beautiful become unnatural and repulsive.” Deme Wolf-Power has been a jeweller for over a decade but has worked as a jewellery designer for half of that, having started classes in jewellery design and making at the age of 11. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Texas in El Paso in 2010 and has recently obtained her Masters in Fine Art from the Edinburgh College of Art. She says,“I feel I got a great foundation from my Bachelor’s degree and learned how to stand up for my work and fight for what I want in this life from my Master’s. I can only hope that the two combined will help me produce strong and confident work in my upcoming career.” As a child Deme loved building and creating, which inspired her to get into jewellery design. Her first article of jewellery was a ring that she made for her mum. “I think she may still have it in her jewelry box and she takes it out and shows people.” Her grandfather is a painter and says she loved working in his

studio when she was a child. “When I was introduced to jewellery and the jewellery making technique, I knew I had found my true passion.”As a designer, quality matters the most to Deme and then after that the originality of design and concept. She loves the freedom and control of being a jewellery designer and having her own label. “I love the excitement of being able to create exactly what I see in my head and I thrive on the control that I have as to determine if this piece will surpass my expectation or fail. Some days it can be a fine line between the two.” Her design signature is her last name: Wolfe-Power. “If there is one thing people have remembered me by, it is my unique last name and I love it.” When designing, Deme says she tries to work out the functionality of the piece in her mind. “I love struggling to make something function for days and then just one morning, waking up and knowing exactly what to do to fix it. I think that is the most rewarding aspect when it comes to the design.” Depending on the piece, it usually takes two weeks to construct larger statement pieces and a day or two of hard labour to create commercial work. Deme prefers building to sketching her designs. “I think I learn more about the design if I build it. I am able to see the flaws and weaknesses in my head as I construct it and fix them.” Her favourite colour is gold: “I love how shiny and beautiful yet tacky gold can be.” Deme also enjoys working with faceted stones INCREDIBLE DRIVE, JADA BROOKES FINDS OUT MORE ABOUTTHE DESIGNER.