Tytti Lindström
 
  Jewellery, Accessory or Clothing? Searching for the Verges of the Concepts  
  Product Design :   2043/2004
 
 
Image: Tytti Lindström, 2003
 
 

The main approach to the final project work was to observe the verges, differences and similarities of the concepts of jewellery, accessory and clothing through theory and a concrete artefact. The aim was to survey the ambiguity of these concepts and to question the common apprehension concerning the words jewellery, accessory and clothing. The intention was to solve the factors that have an influence on what artefact and in which occasion an artefact is considered as a piece of jewellery, accessory or clothing on a human body. The targets of the observation were artefacts which are detachable (from the body) without losing their existence after detaching. That is why the work did not include, for example, tattooing, piercing, scarification and body painting. The concrete artefact made by the author should include features of the concepts in question in a way that the artefact would be ambiguous or difficult to define. The basis of the author’s own concept analysis was to become familiar with the basic theories of dressing and adornment and the concept definitions in dictionaries. To support this, the author collected picture material of artefacts which was difficult to define. With the means of theory and the pictures, the author tried to find some, even simplified definitions of an artefact’s function, materials, size and position on the body among other things. When the final project work proceeded, the author noticed that there was not possibly any unequivocal and comprehensive definitions existing. Due to this, the author concentrated on presenting exciting thoughts and aspects instead of searching absolute answers. After analyzing the verges of the concepts, the author made a summary of the features which an artefact hard to define should express. The most essential feature proved to be the artefact’s modifiability which makes defining the artefact’s function, size and position on the body even more difficult. The materials of the cestoid artefact were chosen to be silver (925) and wool according to the observed definitions and the know-how area of the author. In the end, the complete artefact was compared to the starting point, definitions of the dictionaries and the theories of dressing and adornment. The pictures taken from the artefact visualizing different ways of placing it on a human body played a great part of the comparison and the final summary. As a conclusion it was stated that the artefact made by the author matched the concepts of jewellery, accessory and clothing up to some point and illustrated the flickering verges of the concepts. The author reckoned that the person who attaches the artefact on his or her body would be free to name the artefact in a way he or she would wish.

 
  Keywords: jewellery, accessory, clothing, adornment, dressing, definitions, concept analysis  
  Right of use: To be studied in the place where deposited. Can be freely copied in the place where deposited.  
  Number, file/product, number of pages:
2043:1 Folder A4 Report(54 pages)
 
  Number, what parts, where deposited:
2043:2 Artefact In possession of the author
 
  Phone, e-mail, Home page:+358 50 32 71 805 star_dust_eye@yahoo.com