Issue 51 - Interview with Aprili Designs

Middle Eastern Dance issn 14418282

Issue 51 2014

ma’isah haggala yamina tribal family tree tribal Corner

incorporating

the shimmy omeda magazine

heavy metal 2

Bellydance Oasis Issue 51

Samples of copper in the final stage with a antiqued patination finish ready for sewing on costumes..Photo by Aprili.

Necklace constructed with original hand beaten Aprili brass pendants, mother of pearl shells, coins, bells, faceted crystals, and brass beads.

Devi: When did you start making jewellery?

Aprili: I have always been obsessed with jewellery and metal, with using metal or wearing it, and I have always wanted to make metal jewellery. I enjoyed being in the garage when Dad and my Uncle were welding, I loved the sound and the dirty smell of the welders and the metal, although I was kicked out for safety reasons. It wasn’t really the place for a four year old!

In high school, I did metal work as an elective. I was the only girl in the class. Then I went to TAFE and did my Advanced Diploma of Fine Art; I majored in sculpture. Here my metal obsession increased and I did a lot of work in copper and steel for sculpture, including metal structures for performance art. I also made myself pieces of jewellery for fun with sheets of copper or silver wire.

After TAFE, I went into third year at Newcastle University where I majored

Aprili wearing Original Hand Beaten necklace and nose stud.

Septum ring and star tunnels by Aprili, earrings are Hill tribe

in 3D and did a lot of bronze casting. I got a job as a foundry assistant with one of the lecturers, Trevor Weeks, who had a big sculpture commission. I worked at least five hours a day for him over two years on all stages of the process: making things in wax, pouring risers and runners which flow the metal to the job, constructing casting tress, making the investment and sand moulds around the waxes, burning out the moulds, pouring the bronzes and then chasing the work, which is cleaning it all up.

I used to make small jewellery pieces - rings or pendants - and add them to the casting trees. This was an art foundry, so our crucible held sixty kilos of metal.

It was intended for big works, not fine intricate pieces of jewellery, hence my work had a chunky, primitive Bronze Age edge to it. I loved the hard work and knew that working with metal was what I wanted to do. I really wanted to work in silver, so silver smithing seemed natural.

interview

Interview with Australian Jewellery designer Aprili

by Devi Mamak. Photography by Aprili

tribal corner

Necklace commissioned to contain all Original Hand Beaten Aprili pendants and faceted crystals

Devi: What metals do you work with now?

Aprili: I work with copper and brass. I love the richness and depth of the colour in copper and brass and the different patination you can get on the end product. I also work with Sterling Silver (.925) and fine silver (.999), which has a higher percentage of pure silver.

Devi: Where did you learn your silver smithing skills?

Aprili: In my Honours year at University, I went on exchange to Canada to study for a Semester at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NASCAD). I took classes in the basics of silver smithing and weaving as well as my honours work and LOVED IT! The school was open twenty four hours a day: I was usually there until about 2-3am, then I would walk home, sleep until 10am, get up and do it all again.

I was really happy to be working with metal every day with a more intricate relationship. The techniques used in Bellydance Oasis Issue 51

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“You need to make silver on the outside so you can make gold on the inside.”

silver smithing were more delicate and refined in comparison to what I had been doing as a foundry assistant, and I totally fell in love with the silver studio. I felt I could happily do it forever.

I fell equally in love with the weaving studio, which was above my silver studio. I spent my days running between the two studios, going from the softness of fibre, from spinning and weaving, to the firmness of the metal.

Fabric and embroidery is another obsession of mine, so I was in heaven being able to make thread then weave fabric and make something metal to add to it. I researched fabric and jewellery of primitive and tribal cultures, I was surrounded by inspirational beauty.

Devi: What happened then?

Aprili: I came home from Canada and finished my Honours degree. I moved to the Blue Mountains to join Ghawazi Caravan. I had rent and bills to pay; I didn’t have much spare cash for certain tools and was often too tired to be creative after a full day’s work. I had some successful shows in the Blue Mountains where I incorporated weaving and metal work into the same cloth and I was represented at two galleries. The only jewellery I made was for personal use. I was also saving to travel to India to study at the Shakti School of Dance for four months, which meant working and saving.

Devi: You also furthered your silver smithing skills in India?

Aprili: India was a great experience. I learned dance with Colleena and Guruji and studied jewellery with Gurusa. I studied dance with the local Khalbelia 4

Bellydance Oasis Issue 51

people and spent a lot of time in their camp. Being immersed in the culture for months and being part of the community was a rare experience; by being there and watching the people, I saw how jewellery and textiles ingrained their life with meaning, spiritual significance and identification qualities. I saw people walk through the town and my friends would know where they came from, depending on the clothes and the jewellery they wore. For different religious festivals, everyone brought out special items of jewellery that related to the festival, ceremony or god that was being celebrated. I saw the deep significance of those items; they were not something worn just to look good.

Being obsessed with Indian jewellery and with tribal silver in particular, I wanted to learn special skills in India. I found a gold and silver guru and talked to him about the traditional ways of making jewellery in Rajasthan. He had never had a Western student who knew some traditional methods and wanted to learn his traditional ways. It was a special relationship for us both. There was a lot of respect and he showed me so much with comments such as “No, do like this”. It wasn’t like University, with textbooks and assignments. It was just him and me, day in, day out, listening to music and talking silver. We sat on the floor in a little Indian style studio with little coffee table style desks to work at, drinking chai, surviving the 48°C heat and breaking through a language barrier.

That was when I had a concrete solidifying moment, “this is what I HAVE

to do with my life”. I felt the truest to myself that I ever had been. I wasn’t part of it, or wanting to be part of it, I felt like I WAS the metal being melted or soldered or beaten. That moment was so profound that I knew this was my calling above everything else. This was confirmed when Colleena Shakti took me to meet her swami, Dev, a beautiful and profound man. From our many hours of conversation, I remember when he said, “You need to make silver on the outside so you can make gold on the inside.”

Devi: Despite that experience in India, we didn’t really see your work until this year.

Aprili: Coming home, it was back to mundane work, paying rent and bills.

My studio space was damp and cold and several of my tools got ruined. There was always something that I wanted to do, but it seemed that everything got in the way.

I moved back to Newcastle and I was working and travelling to the Blue Mountains for Ghawazi Caravan rehearsals. I had a good setup in my house. I started making necklaces, belts and crowns using pieces that I already had, deconstructing things to reconstruct them and come up with design ideas.

It can take hours to create one handbeaten piece, so creating pieces out of what I already had was quicker and cheaper, but still beautiful and satisfying to me as an artist. When work levelled out and I was able to get a balance between working and making, things really started to take off.

Devi: Tell us about the traditional

My other influence

I try really hard to

and inspiration is

have a fingerprint

the Amazigh of

on my work unlike

Morocco and Algeria

anyone else’s

techniques.

Aprili: The main one I use is Stamping. It’s quite a tricky process.

I have a stamp with the negative impression in the mould and I have to anneal the metal (heat it until soft), then beat it in stages until I get the full impression from the mould into the metal I am working with. Once annealed, the metal will only be pushed a certain distance, then I have to anneal it again to push it further into the mould and get more detail. It can take hours to get one piece punched out, depending on the depth and detail of the mould, but I love spending the time.

Devi: Are you just making necklaces and sticking to traditional constructions?

Aprili: I have been making pendants to be strung with more contemporary strands of beading. I’m not a traditional Indian silversmith, nor of a particular caste identified by wearing certain jewellery a certain way, so there are liberties that I can take, with my guru’s blessing.

For example, I like to make traditional religious deity pendants in silver, strung with the respect they deserve as a representation of the god.

However, I have been using other brass or copper pieces that are more decorative in headgear, belts, bra tops, on crowns and nose rings, nose studs, rings or earrings. Because my market is predominantly Western, I can adapt the designs I like with components or patterns that aren’t traditional.

Devi: Is it only the traditional Indian that inspires you?

Aprili: Not at all, although it inspires

me heavily. My other influence and inspiration is the Amazigh of Morocco and Algeria. Their work is so strong and bold with such beautiful detail, and the protective symbolism within the pieces appeals to me too. I am also inspired by the folk jewellery of Europe which, when you look closely, has a lot of similarities to work from the East. I like drawing from these cultures and incorporating elements of their designs, amalgamating them into new contemporary pieces with obvious traditional references.

Devi: What makes your work different and sets you apart from other designers?

Aprili: It’s the construction. I try really hard to have a fingerprint on my work unlike anyone else’s. I like making things that look very tribal and have tribal components with glistening, sparkly elements. Even though they may be chunky, they still have a delicate feminine quality and can be worn on the stage as part of our costuming, with an evening dress or with something more casual.

The hand-stamped traditional pieces give my work an identifying mark. I can reproduce the same piece in silver, brass or copper to incorporate it into one costume, or jewellery piece, in different tones. That is unique. People come to me with commissions that incorporate this piece in brass and that piece in copper, so it opens up more individuality in their costuming. I’m not aware of any artists or dancers that are making the components from scratch.

Stamping is a rare skill; it’s metal, but it’s

delicate.

Devi: Is your market only bellydancers?

Aprili: It’s a big part of it, but I want to bring the exotic experience of how we feel when we dress up as performers off the stage and into the everyday. I get so many comments, compliments and questions about my jewellery when I wear it that I know non-dancers are interested in it too.

Devi: In an ideal world, what would you be making or doing? What’s your dream for the future?

Aprili: I would spend my days spinning and weaving cloth, making metal bits to adorn the fabric, beating out beautiful jewellery and making great wearables with ‘old school’ techniques. I love making things from scratch. Couture costuming would be a dream. Into the immediate future, I have been working on a collection which incorporates the hand-beaten work into costuming and jewellery for the Tribal and Trance Festival in Sydney.

Devi: Where did the name Aprili come from?

Aprili: I wanted a name descriptive of what I do, but also simple and catchy.

Through trial and error with names I liked for a few months, I began leaning towards something that would reference me and therefore the work I do. My Nan was Slovenian and used to call me Aprile, so I traded the ‘e’ for an ‘i’ to get Aprili.

Devi: Where can we contact you to get some of your fabulous work?

Aprili: Visit my facebook page. www.facebook.com/Aprilidesigns Bellydance Oasis Issue 51

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