Fine artists and designers have great intuitive awareness and knowledge, inspiring others to admire, and often, to buy. But discovering the sources of their inspiration is a more complex question; their answers range from remembered designs in dreams, to storybooks, to clothing. But John Brevard, the first jewelry designer whose entire line is created through the use of 3D printing, admits that his designs are inspired by forms of Sacred Geometry, fractals and other ancient designs of nature.
As examples of two natural designs: first, the Chambered Nautilus, a sea mollusk, grows at a constant rate and so its shell forms an equiangular spiral; second, honeybees construct hexagonal cells to hold their honey. These underlying natural structures have been replicated time and again in architectural and jewelry design. John Brevard re-creates these shapes with the 3D printing processes, a new strategy that ties ancient and natural structures to cutting edge technology.
Recently, JustLuxe interviewed Brevard, who discussed this idea of marrying the very old with the very new.
JustLuxe: As with many creators of great design, there is a mathematical as well as a spiritual component—this combination is often seen though viewing forms of nature in completely different ways. Can you talk about this in regards to your jewelry design?
John Brevard: Absolutely, and this is the core of the why! I began on this journey at age 14 when I was "reset" by encephalitis and meningitis—an experience that left me in a coma for several weeks and hospitalized for a month. After many seizures and some flat-line experiences, I came out with a wiped memory bank and unexplainable existential experiences. I always asked myself what I had witnessed and experienced.
I completed my architectural studies and contemplated the experiential aspects of the built environment, specifically, the relationship between material, form and their impact on us. My graduate thesis was entitled Sustainable-Being Worldview Shifts In The Reconstruction Of Human Consciousness. The research for the thesis gave me the opportunity to explore ancient spiritual traditions as well as ancient sciences such as Vastu Shastra, Feng Shui, and the science of Sacred Geometry.
JL: Great poets have tried to describe this sense of the eternal in the temporal. I was reminded of Yeats, and his poem, Sailing To Byzantium. In this poem, he saw the image of the singing, golden bird, created by a jeweler, as one containing seeds of both the temporal and eternal. Could you comment on your thoughts about creating jewelry with eternal designs?
JB: There are geometries that exist in nature at all scales. You can witness these patterns in the cosmic, in the microscopic and the atomic, and with the infinite recursions of fractals. These forms underlie sacred geometries and they are implicit to all ideal, and real, forms that exist. Also, after my near death experience I began to have a much deeper fascination with nature and the forms implicit in nature.
JL: My question now deals with 3-D printing, and why it interests you as deeply as it does.
JB: I first stumbled upon 3-D printing in 2008 and found the process fascinating. The implications of 3D printing on how we create & interact with physical forms is truly inspiring and liberating for the new generation of creatives.
JL: My last question deals with how you think your life experience and philosophies play into your brand and your products. From what we have seen of your jewelry, there is airiness as well as a recognition of designs seen before in nature. Is that part of the brand essence?
JB: Forms that are intrinsic in nature inspire all these designs. It's my goal to communicate and illustrate these forms, combining natural design with human imagination, through these works.
