Black Sectional Neckpiece

(Draft--SG)The Black Sectional Neckpiece, from the Islet Series, represents a harmonious union between innovation in technology and traditional craft, bridging the gap between mechanic sterility and personal sentimentality. The piece is greatly innovative in its use of 3D Printing technology, creating a futuristic neckpiece that gives a biomorphic life to its interlocking rings, and a great example of the promise that holds in the future of jewelry making. By creating pieces like the Black Sectional Neckpiece, Bucci demonstrates new ways that recent developments in computer technology can be used in the field of jewelry design, pioneering the imminent union of design and technology. Along with his mastery in technology, Bucci also shows his knowledge of traditional craft through the shaping of the rings and the geometric patterning designed beforehand, and also through the use of silver added to the neckpiece.
Yet while the neckpiece may seem to depict an object that is disconnected to the human touch through the sterility of mechanization, the piece also contains personal meaning that shows a juxtaposition between human and machine. The Islet Series was inspired by Bucci’s personal struggle with Diabetes, and he illustrates this theme in both the digital and physical makeup of the piece. The data used to print the necklace was taken from a "diabetic’s collection of blood glucose readings," [1] which imbues the experience of a person with diabetes into the digital makeup of the neckpiece itself, and which influences the shape that is produced. The geometrical honeycomb pattern was also inspired by the literal translation of Diabetes Mellitus, meaning "‘siphon honey,’" which shows that the visual aspect of the neckpiece depicts the disease as much as its digital component. From its use of technology and craft, to its personal exploration into diabetes, Bucci’s Black Sectional Neckpiece thoroughly discovers a harmony between humanity and technology in design.
[1] Artist Statement on the Islet Series, sent in an email to Sebastian Grant June 21, 2016

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Jewelry of Ideas: Gifts from the Susan Grant Lewin Collection.