I AM ROCK
Interview with Australian Jewelry Designer Peta Heys
Peta Heys uses jewelry design and craftsmanship to explore concepts that are timeless and universal. Her background as an Interior Designer is evident in the architectural aesthetic and technical nature of her work. Peta, which translates to ‘rock’ or ‘stone’, founded her brand ‘I Am Rock’ which is symbolic of not only the exploration of her own creativity and spirituality, but also a reference to the strength within all human beings individually and collectively. Everything she knows about jewelry design has been through trial and error. Her approach has been intuitive and unconventional.
Your greatest inspirations or influences?
History, anthropology, geometry, mathematics, symbolism, astrology, numerology, astronomy, music, literacy, architecture – basically all things related to universal creation and human creativity.
Fave instagram handles?
I am spending less time on social media to minimize my screen time so I don’t really have an impressive curation of handles. Some that excite me are:
Your creative process?
My design process always starts with a concept that I feel moved to explore deeply. It’s usually something that I am trying to understand in my own life, that I know is relatable to others. An idea could be inspired through a poem, an artwork, a building or an interaction with another person. I will then journal, brainstorm, research relative symbols and geometries, and investigate instances in history or different spiritual practices where the concept is being explored. After that, I try to capture my main takeaways into form through hand sketches before digitally sculpting the final design on my PC. The digital sculpting part involves a technical process of fine tuning and prototyping to ensure structural stability of the designs.
How has the pandemic impacted your industry and how you see your collections designed in the future?Whenever people are faced with challenges, they are also given an opportunity to learn and grow. Aside from the obvious economic factors impacting on the jewellery trade such as stores not being open, and people generally spending less, it is my hope that we will start to see some positive impacts of a bigger picture shift in awareness of consumerism.
With COVID-19 having forced the world to slow down, people have a chance to stop and think about the unsustainable way that we have been functioning as a society. We have to face the damage that is being caused to our environment as a result of the general prioritization of the economy, mass manufacturing, and the everyday personal conveniences that facilitate our busy lifestyles.
During my experience designing commercially viable fashion jewelry I became conscious that my values weren’t aligned with the direction my work was taking. It is our responsibility as creators to implement business practices that lessen the impact on the environment for the quality of life of future generations, and to ideally create in a way that may influence consumers to adopt the same awareness into their daily life.
I see pieces designed by me in the future as being sentimental, layered with special meanings, thought provoking, manufactured from precious and natural materials, one of a kind or limited, and typically difficult to make.