For over 40 years Marian Hosking, based in Melbourne, has made jewellery and small objects in silver. For most of this time, she has made all the cast or pierced components herself. However in the 2000s, Hosking started to contract out the tiny forms that she has prototyped to be cast in multiples by specialist local industries. Lost-wax casting is used by the jewellery industry to reduce the time taken on hand working processes. This technique is also used in the dentistry industry where it has become highly sophisticated and accurate.
For the painstaking piercing process and for assembly, Hosking employs silversmiths to work with her at times. Her solutions are not just to save labour. She likes placing many similar items together in one piece, extending the possibilities that industry offers.
Hosking’s work was included in the 2007 exhibition 'Smart works: design and the handmade’ at the Powerhouse Museum.
- Writers:
- Grace Cochrane, Powerhouse Museum
- Date written:
- 2013
- Last updated:
- 2013
