Ali Vedad Yuner

Artist Statement

Unlike histories that are bent to authorities, jewelry is kept safe in museums, guilds, and artisans' minds. This security from false narratives enables jewelry to exist as an object of faith, allowing for an uninterrupted communication between the wearer and higher power. Within this context of faith into a larger existence, he is drawn to jewelry’s role in acknowledging the human’s minuteness compared to the Earth. He enjoys this feeling of littleness—the recognition that he is not above the earth, but within it. Bringing influences from geographical tradition, ecology, and mythology, he seeks to create objects that are expressions of portable geographic identity.

Curriculum Vitae

Ali Vedad Yuner is a Turkish-born jeweler and designer currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Charmed by the silvery facades of fish encountered in the Turkish coast, he found himself fascinated with metal. Along with a need for expression, and a dissatisfaction of design invoked through a brief stint in commercial jewelry, he ended up in RISD, graduating with an MFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing. Maintaining an interest in aquatic life, he carves organs, bones, and biology into adornments of talismanic power.

PINTER,

Other | Stainless Steel, Jasper, Magnets