Britta Boeckmann moved to Australia for love. When she got here, she fell in love all over again with its beautiful wood.
Combining Australian native timbers with translucent resins and semi-precious stones, her jewellery looks a bit architectural with its bold, simple shapes. I love how the clean forms let the rich colours and natural textures shine through; sometimes she adds in bits of twig, flowers or gold leaf to make lots of intriguing details. Britta loves the landscape of Australia too, but is also especially inspired by the organic and modernist furniture of Nipa Doshi & Jonathan Levien (it’s on my wish list as well!).
Her time is currently split between three work areas. “Most of the work is in the Wangaratta Woodworkers workshop which has a great setup with all the tools you could image. I also have a table with tools in a garage, where I make the moulds and cast the pieces, and then I finish off my pieces on a desk in front of a big window. This is where I glue hooks on, attach the chains or cords and oil the pieces. The last two are a total mess most of the time.”
All her work for the Oxford brand was built on CAD and sent out for manufacture, and that is very different to how she works now – completely handmade, mess and all. “There are several steps involved in the process of making these pieces. I colour resin with oil based colours and then pour it into moulds which I make from clay. Then I embed flowers, branches, gold leaf or mostly wood in the resin. A couple of days later I take the cured block out of the mould and I sculpt the shape on the belt sander. After the piece gets its final shape I sand it with different grits by hand to get rid of the scratches. Finally I oil or varnish the pieces and sometimes add additional elements like metal tubes or gemstones.”
Like many jewellers I know, Britta says she never wears much jewellery (although she admits she has one special piece that she has kept for herself). “I love jewellery, but I am just doing so much physical work that it would disturb me wearing it.”
Her best best of advice comes from her partner, who told her “Not to take life so serious, to do what I love to do and not to think about money all the time.”
You can find more of Britta’s jewellery in her Etsy shop, BoldB.
I would like to know if Britta Boeckmann has a workshop and or gallery where I could visit?
Thank you,
Terry
Hi Terry,
I realised the link to Britta’s Etsy shop was broken – my sincere apologies!! You can go direct to her shop here – https://www.etsy.com/shop/BoldB
Since I wrote this article, Britta has moved to Melbourne where she is currently based. I’m sure if you contact her direct through her Etsy shop, she’ll be able to provide you with details on where you can view her work.
Thanks 🙂