Portrait photo of Dovile Kondrasovaite

Dovile wearing FLOW ring

©Agne Bekeraityte

Dovile Kondrasovaite

Born 1989, Dusetos, Lithuania

EDUCATION

2012

BA in jewellery and smithery, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania

2011

Study exchange at Escola Massana, Barcelona, Spain

PROFESSIONAL POSITION

2016 - current

Jewellery tutor, The Quarterworkshop, Birmingham, UK

2019 - 2020

Artist in Residence, Birmingham School of Jewellery, UK

2013 - 2015

Jewellery tutor, Art Studio Ramios Bites, Vilnius, Lithuania

EXHIBITIONS

2021

THE DREAMERS, collection preview, Meno Materija, Kaunas, Lithuania

2019

TEKME/FLOW, solo exhibition, Art jewellery gallery ARgenTum, Vilnius, Lithuania

2019

TRIPLE PARADE Biennale for Contemporary Jewellery, How Design Center, Shanghai, China

2017

MAKING IT NOW, group exhibition, Ruthin Craft Centre, Ruthin, Wales, UK

2017

PRESENT, group exhibition, Studio Fusion Gallery, Oxo Tower Wharf, London, UK

2017

LUMINATES, group exhibition, Mint Shop, London, UK

2017

NATURE MORTE: Contemporary artists reinvigorate the Still-Life tradition, group exhibition, Wroclaw National Museum, Wroclav, Poland

2016

THE EYE / HOME, group exhibition, Magan gallery, London, UK

LATEST EVENTS

2020

MADE, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK

2019

CENTREPIECE, Birmingham, UK.

2019

JOYA Barcelona Art Jewellery & Objects, Barcelona, Spain.

2019

AMBER TRIP, XV International Baltic Jewellery show, Litexpo, Vilnius, Lithuania

2018

DAZZLE LONDON, Oxo Tower Wharf, London, UK

2018

MADE IN LEAMINGTON, Town Hall, Entertainments Venue, Leamington Spa, UK

2018

DAZZLE @ DOVECOT, Edinburgh, UK

2018

THE CONTEMPORARY CRAFT FESTIVAL, Bovey Tracey, Devon, UK

2018

AMBER TRIP, XV International Baltic Jewellery show, Litexpo, Vilnius, Lithuania

2017

DAZZLE LONDON, group exhibition, Oxo Tower Wharf, London, UK

2017

MADE BY HAND CARDIFF, contemporary craft fair, Cardiff, UK

2017

DAZZLE LONDON, group exhibition, Oxo Tower Wharf, London, UK

2017

NEW DESIGNERS, ONE YEAR ON, Business Design Centre, London, UK

2017

THE CONTEMPORARY CRAFT FESTIVAL, Bovey Tracey, Devon, UK

2017

AMBER TRIP, Art Jewellery Competition show & jewellery show Vilnius, Lithuania

2017

THE EYE, Contemporary Jewellery Symposium, Telsiai, Lithuania

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

The central concept of my jewellery is time and natural ageing processes. This is shown through the use of hand-carved amber and wood, their interplay, giving a sense of the growth to the wearer. My task is to make an object which itself cannot be measured clearly within a timescale. The shapes I am making could look like driftwood or a still growing structure. To me, ageing is an absolutely gorgeous process which naturally creates such great lines no matter if it is my face getting wrinkles, a tree bark or a bud of flower starting to bloom or even a coming wave. It could take seconds or centuries.

The materials I have chosen to work with have gone through long ageing processes until they have reached my hands as natural raw Baltic amber and bog oak and other naturally black hardwoods. Amber as a material is deeply rooted in my Baltic identity and, sadly, is not a self-renewable resource. Its overuse within commercial mass produced jewellery design has inspired me to explore the material within my own work with a hope to modify the image of amber and to use it in a more considered and contemporary way.

I bring wood and amber together into sculptural shapes. The visual confrontation of hard black wood and fragile amber and dynamic volume creates intriguing dialogue. Every design in shaping comes spontaneously without sketching or modelling. It is a satisfying journey following the very special material and my inner mood. Sometimes it goes into a very dramatic structure sometimes turn into a still and light design.

Over the time and with wear the objects will change, the surface may rub off, may crack and polish naturally. It is sustainable jewellery, which after wearing could be dropped into the bog or the sea again to continue the processes.

A man wearing FLOW silver brooch

A man wearing FLOW silver brooch

©Agne Bekeraityte