CGD

She calls herself "a body architect", and was the winner of the Czech Grand Design award in the category Jewellery Designer of the Year 2016, as well as the award Talent of the Year 2014, and seeks connections between an object and a body. Her sources of inspiration are the variety of natural and artificial forms, and the stories of the hidden, intimate self which is often set into contradiction with expressive statement. The feminine and provocative items Bold Black of nylon rope and metal elements follow on from the concept of the preceding collection, Dragon Spirit. In the new series, the artist transferred the Asian art of knotting into the form of wearable jewels and accessories for everyday use. The design of the Expelled jewels was, for a change, inspired by harpoons and fishing hooks and is completely handmade, without using 3D technologies. Markéta Kratochvílová commented on her most recent work as follows: "The statement rings and earrings from the Expelled collection are the main product line originating under my newly established studio, Bold. The inspiration of fishing gives the collection the air of adventure and danger sensed on the way to freedom. The aim of the collection is to re-evaluate the significance of jewellery in our wardrobe and fill it with opinionated items capable of expressing a strong and peculiar personality. Informed by the ancient fishing tools made of bones, the morphology of the collection, too, was slimmed into clean lines polished to high gloss. The silver material here receives innovative, luxurious forms which nevertheless retain distinctive poetics and the touch of high-quality craftsmanship."

Danica Kovářová

Markéta Kratochvílová graduated from Studio K.O.V., headed by Eva Eisler, at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. She moves on the boundary between jewellery, clothing and fine arts. It is the intrinsic nature of her work that one rather gets dressed into her extravagant objects instead of merely putting them on, as is otherwise the usual case with jewellery. Her collections successively explore various materials, which the designer treats in a sculptural way and examines the ultimate possibilities of how to process them. Even provided the large volumes and materials very non-traditional for jewellery, Markéta is perfectly capable of achieving the impression of lightness and delicacy.

The jewellery created for the collection of Kateřina Plamitzerová, nominated in the section Fashion Designer of the Year, excellently develop on Kateřina's inspiration by the heroine of the Japanese anime, Mononoke, and simultaneously, by the raw and wild beauty of the deserted Šluknov region, the northernmost one in the Czech Republic. The face masks and voluminous neck and body pendants are made of, among other things, climbing ropes and metal snap-hooks, hard-wearing textile straps and plastic protectors. Combined with gentle corals and tassels, they nevertheless look romantic and tender, although there is still the artist's generous scale and touch of expressive experiment and fetish. And there is also wood, lathed during Markéta's sojourn to China. The shapes are based on baby bamboo and lotus root. The collection of necklaces and masks for Art House, entitled Dragon Spirit, is also inspired by the designer's Asian travels and reflects the coexistence of supermodern society and traditional culture. Its morphology is derived from the strength and persistence of the female Korean pearl hunters and Chinese paper umbrella binders.

Veronika Ruppert