2022 Robert Foster F!NK National Metal Prize

Jonathon Zalakos | Hydroformed Sake Set | 2022
Jonathon Zalakos is an emerging artist and
contemporary jeweller based in Canberra,
Australia, on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land.
He seeks to integrate traditional goldsmithing
materials and techniques with contemporary
practices and philosophical thought. His work
takes the form of jewellery, interactive objects,
digital media and installation. Jonathon is particularly
interested in how meaning is co-produced
through the processes of expression
and perception. This drives exploration into
the visual language of cultural phenomena
including contemporary pop jewellery culture,
online viral media and the two-way relationship
between the human and manufactured
worlds. These concepts are deconstructed
and reassembled so as to consider the different
worlds we occupy with our bodies and
minds.
My application for this prize is inspired by
Robert Foster’s own pursuit of craft innovation
and aesthetically streamlined design. For
me, this means embracing curiosity, experimentation
and a keen eye for finishing details.
I explore hydroforming as a manufacturing
technique - a method of ‘inflating’ closed
metal vessels with pressurised water so as to
create complex hollow forms. Typically this is
done with tube in heavy dies to create repeatable
and precise components: car exhaust
pipes for example. I integrate classic silversmithing
processes to create hollow forms
that are then inflated like balloons, where the
final shape is unpredictable and emergent.
A tension between divergent properties of
liquid are captured in the process as the jug
and cups seem to be nearly bursting at the
seams, yet remain completely functional for
containing and gently pouring out sake.
Photo: Tim Bean Photography