Nenad Roban

Jewellery maker

©Dragan Budimir

©Srećko Budek

Connecting worlds

Nenad produces jewellery based on ecological principles
Jewellery helps him to understand how personality is linked to the environment
He strives to emphasise interconnections between the body and outer space

Nenad Roban graduated in jewellery design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. At the beginning of the 1990s, he founded his own jewellery workshop, working in various materials. He teaches Jewellery design, Body and Space Objects, and Design: History and Modernity at the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka, Croatia. In his artistic statement, Nenad says “The causal and ensuing link between art, nature and society in jewellery media is realised in a very direct way. One of the prerequisites is the production of artistic jewellery according to an ecologically based concept. I believe that, given the relationship with nature, society is in the adjustment period to many of the visible changes that we feel directly and almost daily on the body."

Interview

©Dragan Budimir

©Dragan Budimir

Why did you choose jewellery making and how did you start doing it?: Jewellery of the 1960s was neglected as an artform and therefore a very interesting field for research. Also, I like to work on tables with smaller scale objects. I started doing it in 1966, while thinking what can I use to put on the body that would send a message to society.
When did you open your own workshop?: In the early 1990s, I opened a fully equipped workshop. I had smaller inadequate spaces before that. The first products I made were silver brooches that questioned the role of jewellery in the field of contemporary design and art at the time.
What are your sources of inspiration?: Everyday life, nature, micro and macro world, human existence on planet Earth. But also people, for whom I make unique pieces. In my work, tradition is a springboard for innovation.
What do you love most about your profession?: Exploring the role of jewellery as a means of communication. The ability to express on a body with different materials in a small format – all that other designers need more space and more material for.

Nenad Roban is a master artisan: he began his career in 1973 and he started teaching in 2007