Templates / Site Jewels

Authors’ Comment

TEMPLATE (ȘABLON), templates, s. n. 1. A full-scale model of a part, used to guide a tool for machining by cutting or deformation, to limit certain surface areas where paint is applied, etc.
TEMPLATES / Site Jewels is a curatorial concept born from the desire to bring together and place into a critical relationship—through the medium of tool-objects used in construction—historical architecture (rich in decoration, stylistic expression, and materiality) and contemporary architecture (non-decorative and stripped of ornament).
The collection features templates gathered from renovation sites, which are used in construction to produce linear moldings. The shape of the template reveals, in negative, a facade or ceiling profile—a cornice produced through a specific drawing technique executed by a craftsman. In this way, these templates come to contain, in a geometric manner, the very architecture they produce.
The template technique largely implies a repetitive execution devoid of creativity, as this is its exact role: to control a pre-established, repeatable form. However, the making of the template itself—which more often than not becomes a unique object—is a random process that involves a certain amount of creativity.
Once transposed into another environment outside the construction site, these perishable, temporary objects can be viewed as aesthetic artifacts—witnesses to specific techniques, styles, and stories, carrying a hidden identity within their form.
Affixed to the wall, where it truly belongs, yet extracted from its primary function as a production tool, the template becomes just like the element it was created for: a sort of memory holder that embodies the decoration both ideologically and physically.
The collection consists of a series of new decorative objects inspired by the geometric shapes of the templates. These unique, jewelry-like creations were designed to foster a dialogue between the walls of modern homes, which are often devoid of distinctive ornamentation, and the moldings of heritage spaces. Collection is composed of 7 objects and a lamp.
The collection was showcased in an exhibition of the same name in March 2024 at the Amzei Creative Corner space in Bucharest.
Materials- brass, inox, oak wood