Jennifer Park
Jennifer Park
From childhood on, I can always remember wanting to create art. Drawing is, and always has been, my passion. That is what attracts me to cloisonne enameling-the linear quality of it. All of my designs start with line drawings, and from there I do lots of color studies 
with Prismacolor pencils. I enjoy the brilliant colors I achieve with the enamels-a satisfaction that I cannot get using colored stones alone. As a means of expression, I love the permanence of glass and metal over the fragility of chalk on paper.
In my former life as a graphic designer, I worked with color, line, and shape on two-dimensional paper-mostly aided by technology. Now I cut, saw, hammer, grind, drill, and use fire to manipulate glass and metal-all this to craft wearable designs that go beyond decoration.
My work employs a variety of techniques, including cloisonné enameling and granulation. For the cloisonné technique (where cells are created by ribbons of wire), I use fine gold and silver cloisonné wire. Enamels are fired many times and finished to a high polish. For the granulation technique (where spheres are fused onto a metal surface), I create 22k gold and fine silver granules in specific sizes to suit the designs. Settings are hand fabricated of high-karat gold and silver and are enhanced with gemstones.