Montserrat Fonseca Llach - Chile/Netherlands
Montserrat Fonseca Llach - USNEA JOYAS
Designer biography:
Montserrat Fonseca Llach (Chile - 1993) architect, set designer and jewellery artist based between Amsterdam and Santiago de Chile. In 2020, from a personal fascination and research about the flora of southern Chile (Patagonia), she created Usnea, a creative and experimental project based on the collection and use of organic local matter as a matrix to create wearable and portable objects. So far, her work has been selected and exhibited at: IX Exhibition of Contemporary Goldsmiths AdOC 2O25 (ES), Latin American Biennial of Contemporary Jewellery 2024 (CL), FashionClash Festival 2024 (NL), Bordes Fluidos BAJ 2024-25 (CL), Lost in Jewellery magazine (IT), Obsessed Festival 2023 (NL). And recently has been selected by GEMZ, an international talent acceleration programme by Current Obsession magazine (NL).
Collection concept: P
Collecting is crucial in my jewelry practice. A process beyond observation and selection, an act that offers the opportunity to borrow or adopt the material, analyze and observe it outside its natural context. Thus, I work with “findings” turning them into a matrix for the creation of wearable pieces, revealing an unprecedented relationship between matter and form. ‘Lichenaries’, a series of two collections of 950 silver pieces ( 35 pieces) : an archive of lichens (Usnea barbata) collected in Chilean Patagonia. A fungus in symbiosis with a green microalgae, turning a new plant, morphologically different and with a great ecological plasticity. Together they involve a concept of mutual survival, integrating matter and energy to a vast number of habitats.
