ANDREA MURIBØ
"The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the
universe to know itself.”
― Carl Sagan
ALLSIDIGE ANDREA
Andrea Muribø is a jewelry artist with a bachelor's degree from the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, and already has an unusually long list of Norwegian and international art styles on her CV despite her young age. Andrea is not content with producing jewelry for herself in the workshop, she also has to go out and meet people, feel that she can make a difference. That's why she has studied social entrepreneurship, worked with animals, and traveled around the world alone. And now she is also a student at "Future Leaders Global". She doesn't know where her path will lead next, but she is reasonably sure that it will involve a form of rebuilding humanity's respect for nature.
I have always sought out nature, the forest, the sky, and the sea. The vast infinite, against the microscopic. Everything is connected. I experience that nature speaks to me, says Andrea, I feel closely related to indigenous people. Their intuitive way of relating to nature is also mine.
NATURAL JEWELRY ART
Andrea collects the beauty of nature and seeks to convey it in jewelry that people can wear on their bodies.
The materials are found everywhere, and Andrea picks up treasures on her trips, whether she is on long walks around the world or short trips in the local area. In her workshop, antlers, horns, stones, seaweed, shells, metals, wood, glass and coal are neatly sorted and displayed. There are raw materials and processed objects all over each other. Recently, friends and family have also started collecting things they find and giving them to Andrea. They bring me gifts that they have found and think are typical Andrea, she says with a smile.
Jewelry is one of the oldest art forms we have. Remains of jewelry have been found that are said to be 75,000 years old. Jewelry was used for protection, against evil, for fertility, as medicine and as status symbols. In various Native American cultures, it is common to use elements from animals such as teeth, feathers, bones, claws, fur and skin in jewelry. In this way, some of the animals' characteristics could be transferred to the person wearing the jewelry.
A LOGO OF STAR DUST
In connection with her participation at Milan Design Week in April (incidentally referred to as the world's most important design exhibition), Andrea contacted me for help in developing a logo and a business card that she can take with her to the exhibition. It is important to make contacts, to plant seeds that can give sprouts to new fruitful collaborations in the future.
When we discuss the starting point for her logo, we enter into an exciting dialogue about what jewelry is really about.
Making jewelry feels quite intimate. It's meant to be worn on someone's body, and will affect the wearer in different ways. Andrea shows me a series of moles on her body.
I have always had many moles, and they have actually meant a lot to me, she says. My own natural adornment. It is as if they stand in a position in relation to each other. A kind of pattern that repeats itself, she says. I have considered these moles as symbols for something. Almost like a map, or a reflection in the starry sky. It gives a perspective on life to imagine that a little of the starry sky is reflected in me.
Perhaps these moles also influenced Andrea's choice of jewelry as an art form. In any case, they became the starting point for Andrea's logo. A kind of star symbol shaped like an A, based on her star map of moles. Deeply personal, and at the same time a tiny part of the infinite universe. So her logo also became a form of jewelry that she wears on her body.
I think that perhaps in our abundance we should no longer wear jewelry for our own protection. Perhaps in the future we should instead seek to wear our jewelry as an important reminder that it is now just as much nature that needs protection from us?
All jewelry images are borrowed from Andrea's website and reproduced with permission.
If you want to know more about Andrea, you can visit her website here.
Milan Design Week runs from April 4-9. You can read more about it here.
