Interview Edel Cassidy
Can you tell me a little about your education/training?
I graduated from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin in 2015 with a BA in Metals and Jewellery Design. While studying there, I considered a range of possibilities from fashion design and textiles to fine art, print and ceramics. However, I felt that there was a lot of potential for me to express my ideas through the medium of jewellery and metalwork, so I decided to finish my studies in this subject.
I completed a semester as an Erasmus student at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. While there, my mind opened up to the possibilities of fusing different materials in interesting ways. This was a very liberating experience and benefited my work so much.
In 2021, I graduated with an MA in Fashion and Technology from the University of Art and Industrial Design in Linz, Austria. As my work draws on different elements that fuse aspects of traditional design with digital technology, Linz was the perfect place to explore this fusion further. My time in Austria enabled me to work extensively with innovative 3D printing processes, robotics and new material explorations within the context of fashion and jewellery design. The education and training that I’ve received so far have been crucial in the development of my work.
When did it first occur to you that you could combine the disciplines of art and music?
I had classical training on the piano before I went to art college, so I was able to bring these influences to bear on my art and design practice. While music and sound can be quite abstract, the technical and artistic training I received in college helped me to see the possibilities of realising the abstract in material form. Piano music was initially a huge influence, and later, when I started playing the harp, I became inspired by the ancient melodies and sonorities of that instrument … all things that have sparked ideas for me. I’ve also sung and written my own music from an early age. Singing and the human voice has had a huge influence on my recent work. Music has a tactile emotional quality that can touch the hearts and senses of listeners and performers, while jewellery and sculpture have a tactile material quality.
I aim to bring the emotional and heartfelt feeling of music into the pieces that I make. I translate the harmonic and melodic shapes of music into a tangible and wearable form. Digital technology and Computer Aided Design programmes are useful in helping me to fine-tune and format intricately designed patterns transcribed from musical scores or sound before those patterns are translated and assembled manually into wearable pieces.
As music seems to be such a big part of your life and has had such a huge impact on your work, did you ever consider a career in this field?
My aim has always been to merge my interests into a career where I can express all sides of my personality. Combining my musical influences with my art and design training has enabled me to express myself freely as both an artist and designer and as a musician. Up to this point in my career, playing, singing and writing music has run parallel with my professional life. My music inspires the objects that I make, while the act of making things often inspires a new melody for a song. The two expressions complement each other. I don’t like restricting myself to only one art form as the work that I’ve enjoyed creating the most has been where I’ve combined these different elements into a new whole.
Have you been influenced by any particular artists or musicians?
I’m inspired by artists or musicians who don’t stay within one artistic discipline but who cross the boundaries of various art forms within their work. Artistically, I’ve been influenced by contemporary designers such as Iris van Herpen who also trained in classical ballet; the expression of dance and movement informs her design work a great deal. I admire how she utilises new technology combined with high craftsmanship to create her fashion pieces. Casey Curran is another artist whose work I find creatively stimulating. He employs technology to make complex, beautiful and intricately designed installations and wearable sculptures that undulate and move in real time.
Musically, I’m inspired by the singer and artist Bjork, who uses fashion as a tool to communicate her voice and image. Her songwriting is influenced by different sources, such as the natural world, and her live shows are art installations in themselves. Joni Mitchell is not only an incredibly talented singer and songwriter but a skilled painter too. Her music has been a great influence on my life and work.
Is your choice of materials driven by the concept behind each piece of work, or would you first choose a particular material and work from there?
The materials I use in my work are very much influenced by the concept behind each piece. For example, with the wearable paper sculptures, there is an interesting connection materially as music notation is written, read and recorded on paper. The particular paper that I use, Japanese linen, creates a beautiful and unexpected tactile quality when it’s assembled.
I’m drawn to working in metal and have used metals that react to sound in my recent work. The choice of material is largely personal, but it can be influenced by the style and shape of the music or sound. This, in turn, can influence the tactile quality and purpose of the finished object.
Your recent work From Voice to Voltage undergoes quite a complex process. Can you explain how this is achieved?
During my MA in Fashion and Technology, I was encouraged to be experimental in my approach. I took this as an opportunity to try out the technique of anodising metal. Anodising is an electrochemical process whereby reactive metals such as titanium and niobium display a spectrum of colour when submerged in a water-based solution and charged with electricity. At 15 volts you can achieve a light bronze colour, but at around 110–120 volts, the metal begins to shimmer in beautiful pink and green shades. The colour of the metal is achieved through oxidation. The higher the voltage, the thicker the oxide layer becomes on the surface of the metal. The refraction of light from the surface of the metal is increasingly interrupted as the oxide layer thickens, and it is this that causes our eyes to see certain colours.
With my background in singing, I began to make connections between the sound waves of the voice and the electrical waves that are used in the anodising process to colour metal. The voltage frequency used to change the colour of the metal can be controlled by the vocal frequency with the help of new digital technology that translates voice frequency to voltage. In turn, the voice is used as the input to control the voltage in the anodisation process of titanium and niobium, thereby creating unique ‘sound’ colours on the metal based on an individual voice. The metal is then made into unique bespoke pieces of wearable sculpture.
Do you have plans for a new collection?
I’m developing the Voice to Voltage collection further in terms of the technical, material and design possibilities that can be achieved with titanium and niobium. These metals have different properties in comparison to silver and gold and are easier to solder, cut out and work with by hand. The reactive metals require more complex machining processes and technology to be able to work with them for design purposes. I am also expanding the whole idea of visualising sound and the human voice within my work to create a new collection of personalised wearable pieces and sculptures.
Genevieve’s work can be purchased through her website: www.genevievehowarddesign.com. Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, The Netherlands exhibits her work at art fairs such as Collect in London and at FRAME during Munich Jewellery Week each year.
- ‘Genieve Howard’ is published in Anthology Volume 18. Read more features from this volume or buy it now.
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