bite
jewellery
S
he designs with materials that
many of us may consider unnatural
and repulsive but that does not
stop contemporary jewellery
designer DemeWolfe-Power from
attempting to challenge the conventions of
attraction and repulsion through her work.
Creating pieces of jewellery from objects
such as extracted human teeth, taxidermy
bird anatomy, human hair, animal furs and
hides, Deme combines these elements
with traditional materials such as sterling
silver, gold, pearls and semi-precious
stones to present her jewellery as a focal
point of art, discussion and reasoning.
She says, “I am trying to question what
people find unnatural and repulsive and
in what context does something that was
natural or beautiful become unnatural and
repulsive.”
Deme Wolf-Power has been a jeweller
for over a decade but has worked as a
jewellery designer for half of that, having
started classes in jewellery design and
making at the age of 11. She graduated with
a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University
of Texas in El Paso in 2010 and has recently
obtained her Masters in Fine Art from the
Edinburgh College of Art. She says,“I feel I
got a great foundation from my Bachelor’s
degree and learned how to stand up for
my work and fight for what I want in this
life from my Master’s. I can only hope that
the two combined will help me produce
strong and confident work in my upcoming
career.”
As a child Deme loved building and
creating, which inspired her to get into
jewellery design. Her first article of
jewellery was a ring that she made for
her mum. “I think she may still have it
in her jewelry box and she takes it out
and shows people.” Her grandfather is a
painter and says she loved working in his
studio when she was a child. “When I was
introduced to jewellery and the jewellery
making technique, I knew I had found my
true passion.”As a designer, quality matters
the most to Deme and then after that
the originality of design and concept. She
loves the freedom and control of being
a jewellery designer and having her own
label. “I love the excitement of being able
to create exactly what I see in my head
and I thrive on the control that I have as
to determine if this piece will surpass my
expectation or fail. Some days it can be a
fine line between the two.”
Her design signature is her last name:
Wolfe-Power. “If there is one thing people
have remembered me by, it is my unique
last name and I love it.” When designing,
Deme says she tries to work out the
functionality of the piece in her mind. “I
love struggling to make something function
for days and then just one morning, waking
up and knowing exactly what to do to fix
it. I think that is the most rewarding aspect
when it comes to the design.” Depending
on the piece, it usually takes two weeks
to construct larger statement pieces and
a day or two of hard labour to create
commercial work. Deme prefers building
to sketching her designs. “I think I learn
more about the design if I build it. I am
able to see the flaws and weaknesses in my
head as I construct it and fix them.” Her
favourite colour is gold: “I love how shiny
and beautiful yet tacky gold can be.” Deme
also enjoys working with faceted stones
HER CONTROVERSIAL
JEWELLERY PIECES,
USE OF UNUSUAL
MATERIALS AND
CLEVER DESIGNS
HAVE GOT DESIGNER
DEMEWOLFE-POWER
NOTICED. HIGHLY
MOTIVATEDWITH AN
INCREDIBLE DRIVE,
JADA BROOKES
FINDS OUT MORE
ABOUTTHE DESIGNER.
Deme Wolfe-Power