Nuno Borges
Personal stament
Nuno saw the jewellery journey starting almost by accident in 2003, a gap year to fill before going into studies towards arquitecture, happen to
be at a flirtatious technical
jewellery school in Oporto, Portugal, a hobby that fast grew into something serious. With high standards achieved, an experience working for a Portuguese jewellery house added to the curriculum and expertise. However in 2008 the will to obtain further studies in design along with the desire to move abroad, saw an exciting move
to the award winning metal & jewellery department of the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Scotland arise.
In 2012 graduated with the first complete body of work entitled “theValley”, inspired literally in the Douro wine making valley but with clear influences by Scottish countryside and life in the Highland mountains. A collection of wearable pieces, that seem to work as objects on their own as well, using matte finished sterling silver and rosewood, riveting parts together and assembling rudders, seemed to surround the work with a sense of belonging and primitive feeling to it.
Currently artist in residence at DJCAD.
“The Valley”
Collection statment:
Nuno’s work is the result of a deeper look into the rural way of life. A series of pieces that represent, in the form of allegories, the workand relations among the inhabitants of a region, the Douro Valley,in the northern Portugal.
A journey to the region in the summer of 2011 fascinated and later inspired the work. The beauty of the Valley ignited by the river and its boat, the steeped mountains and its wine, the people and their villages, acted like a calling into a place where sense of belonging still exists.
The development of the project came with interpretations, of the crafts native to the Valley, of the stories catalogued in old books and old photographs, of the general feeling around community values.
The short stories that accompany each piece are to illustrate and make wonder the viewer, being most of these by local writers orwriters that fell in love with the region…
Awards
2012 F&A Bradshaw Award, to finance a research in travel project to Brasil.
2011 Scottish gem competition, highly commended prize.
Nuno Borges 