Sunday 11 January 2015

OH MY PONY! – ANNEA LOUNATVUORI

Finnish jewellery designer and owner of P O N Y Annea Lounatvuori (30) is a creative by heart, who loves adapting art to design (and visa versa), share thoughts, dreams and visions and learn about new materials and techniques. Annea enjoyed collaborating with Katja Hagelstam at the Local Helsinki Gallery, the Finnish fashion label R/H and the fashion store Acolyth. Her P O N Y jewellery has been shown at various exhibitions such as Artek Helsinki, as well as in many magazines like ELLE, Gloria or HUILI. Those passions empower her to create beautiful jewellery filled with meaning, love and excitement.

left: "for Paris exhibition 2014", photo: Akseli Valmunen / right: "Annea", photo: Noora Lehtovuori


What was the background idea for your current collection and where did you get your inspiration from?
My current P O N Y jewellery collection “Radiant Light” got inspired from an idea where horse hair, my main material, would be hidden as a secret which only the wearer knows about. The hologram plexi-glass works well also because it is so shiny and you really truly are radiated by it. The simple round form and the initials P O N Y behind the piece remind from a second inspiration behind the piece – medallion where you can carry an image of your loved one or a lock of his/hers hair.

P O N Y "radiant light" by Annea Lounatvuori, photo: Jenny Puputti

P O N Y "radiant light" by Annea Lounatvuori, photo: Janne Lounatvuori
  
What is it that fascinates you about jewellery design in general?  
Jewellery design for me is a tool to express my emotion and creativity. I love the fact that jewellery is so personal to us but as its worn openly, it can show another side of us. Also the tension between just a beautiful, vague accessory or a special piece with a story is a very tasty combination for inspiration. On side of my more commercial collection I work with contemporary jewellery. Making art and combining it with commerciality is actually one of my goals with my thesis I currently work with.

"P O N Y shooting" 2014, photo: Antti Sepponen

How important is collaboration to you?
For me and for my design work collaboration has played a huge role in getting my work out there as well as giving inspiration for the future. I think designing is universal work which means that everything is connected and its very important to share the thoughts and ideas with others. I do most of my P O N Y jewellery design alone but its goal is still to be in communication with what currently happens in the world.
 

"P O N Y shooting" 2012, photo: Liisa Valonen
 
What was your latest collaboration about?

The most important collaboration I last worked with has been with the Laurea University of Applied Sciences to which I designed the principle's chain last spring.    
The design process as well as the productions of the actual piece was an inspiring challenge. We were given a task to design a piece that would show and articulate the values of the University in a form of a sculptural but wearable piece of jewellery made from silver. The values were solidarity, communality, creativity and the idea of being dynamic and future were focused.   
The task was not easy, how do you show these values in an abstract and artistic way but still so that everybody can "read" the message? In my process I translated the values to a language that I understand in other words created a story. For the opening celebrations in August I made a presentation where I showed two short films which we created together with my husband. The first film showed the island and the nature of it and the second film showed the architectonical inspiration for the jewellery which was shot on the streets of Berlin. I placed the camera in front of my bike and "flew" over the streets of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg where I live. These films can be seen soon on the webpage of Laurea.

"Laurea Aura" 2014 by Annea Lounatvuori, photo: Annea Lounatvuori

The most inspiring in this collaboration was the chance to communicate through an artistic piece and create something that hopefully speaks to a lot of more people in Laurea throughout the years. The process also brought me closer to the traditional goldsmithing and how it can be processed in a modern way. Personally it was of course an honour to be able to design and create a work of this scale.

I also have been collaborating with the Mannerheim League of Child Welfare to which I designed a special concept last year to support their tutorial work and a campaign against school bullying. The main idea was to design something that the children can do and create further by themselves. The concept consists of simple friendship wristband design made from recycled cotton or jersey.  Children who attend the tutorial training talk about the values for friendship and the idea is that they choose different colours and materials giving them a meaning while working with it. After that they can give the wristband as a gift to their "god-student". This co-operation focused more on the message and the communality rather than artistic attempt. But it was still as important and interesting! I had to find solutions how to produce pieces very cost- and production-effective.

"MLL wristband" (ilonkierteet) by Annea Lounatvuori, photo: Iina Pajuvesa


Did living in Berlin have an impact on your artistic attempt?   
Living in Berlin gave me good chance to think about what I really want to do artistically. For me inspiration is not determent in one place, but distance from home gave me a possibility for better self-examination.

left: "P O N Y fake piercing" 2014, photo: Janne Lounatvuori / right: "P O N Y in Cuba" 2013, photo: Antti Sepponen
Don't miss Annea’s next exhibition at Kunsthaus Maximilian in Munich 10th-14th of March at SCHMUCK 15.

Interview: Victoria Trunova

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