Jo Riis-Hansen works in a place of unrestrained expression. Her jewellery is the embodiment of her pursuit of artistic freedom, representing a personal journey of renouncing norms and typical genre confines.
Signalling a departure from her background in commercial jewellery, Jo’s next chapter is dedicated to the ‘making of’: unhurried, quiet contemplation and near- infinite experiments with form. Kinetic and often talisman-like, her pieces play with our perceptions of conventional shapes.
Each piece is crafted by Jo’s hands in her studio in Copenhagen, imbuing her jewellery with a sense of spirit often lacking in the mass-produced. As a classically trained goldsmith taught by the old guard in traditional techniques that go back centuries, Jo is a master of her craft, translating it into something without constraints.
Ceramics have become a central part of Jo’s new method. Moulding clay and shaping playful stoneware vessels with the enthusiasm of a novice has become a way for her to access another way of thinking and creating – a space she retreats to in order to find the untethered energy she seeks to bring to her artisanal jewellery.
In her work process Jo has found her sanctuary, but she also welcomes feelings of discomfort. By working with dogmas that challenge her beliefs and aesthetics she deliberately trips herself up, seeking to examine her visual language and personal daring to ultimately let go of creative inhibitions. Her projects are a journey in creative enlightenment, but also about beauty as a much-overlooked source of energy, and always carrying with her the classic meaningfulness so deeply embedded in jewellery.
