An industrial process of working with tools and fire, it gives South Australian artist Charlotte Guidolin great purpose to create a refined and lasting art piece that is, precious to the wearer with a connection to the natural world.

Charlotte began her journey into contemporary jewellery in 2002. Formally trained at Adelaide College of the Arts as a Jewellery /Printmaking major, she completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Applied design in 2004. Charlotte has exhibited and sold her work through national galleries and retail spaces and has been involved in several group exhibitions and solo shows. Setting up a home-based studio in 2002 and working in the arts industry alongside other South Australia jewellery designers, she continues to develop her arts practise, exhibiting and creating pieces that reflect her expression and define her as an artist/contemporary jeweller.

Charlotte’s work explores the idea of Protection, Preservation of Nature and life cycles. Working predominantly with recycled sterling silver, bi-metal, titanium and printed aluminium, she uses traditional techniques to emboss and forge delicate ‘pieces of nature’ into metal to create a piece with a connection to the natural world.

Earlier works show Charlotte’s cast textile elements from heirloom vintage lace and natural botanical elements contained within wire frameworks that act as a ‘protective’ cage. This work touched on the theme of protection, preservation, fragility and memory. Her current style is heavily influenced by flora and textures found in nature and nature as artefact. With an interest in ‘mark making’, surface decoration and the play between ‘delicate versus robust’, she uses a Rolling mill much like a printing press, to emboss fragments of nature leaving an etched like quality on metal reminiscent of plant fossils. Themes of Protection and Preservation of nature, life cycles and memory continue to filter through her work.