<h5><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-craft-material-practices" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BA (Hons) 3D Design Craft</a>s lecturer, <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-jewellery" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MA Jewellery</a> Subject Tutor and practicing artist Rachel Darbourne exhibited her work at the renowned show for avant-garde contemporary jewellery, <a href="http://www.munichjewelleryweek.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Munich Jewellery Week</a>.</h5> <p>Along with Professor Jivan Astfalck and Laura Bradshaw-Heap, Rachel created Polyphonous 2019 - a hub of pop-up exhibitions for Munich Jewellery Week, in partnership with Gabi Green.</p> <p>Studio Gabi Green has been a regular platform for the work of the team since 2012. Previous exhibitions include Suspend.ed, Suspend.ed in Pink, Subterranea and an iteration of JUNK: rubbish to gold. The gallery was the sole venue participating in Munich Jewellery Week in the West End of Munich, and Polyphonous was established in 2018 to create a hub of activity and encourage visitors to the show.</p> <p>Gabi Green spent the summer of 2017 canvassing local businesses in the area to find suitable venues for the team to offer to other jewellery artists. Debuting in 2018, Polyphonous provided six exhibitions for international jewellery artists and students.</p> <p>2018 was a huge success, with new local businesses and artists actively seeking to participate in the future. Polyphonous 2019 was even bigger and better, with eight venues showing the work of sixteen international artists from the UK, Europe and the USA plus a showcase of work from the 2018 cohort of the MA at Birmingham City University.</p> <p>Talking about the new pieces, Rachel Darbourne said, "This new work has been made using fresh water pearls, silk, 24ct gold leaf, gold, silver, tights, latex and plasti-dip. The pearls were individually knotted into necklaces in the traditional time-consuming manner, these finished pieces were then dipped into latex or plasti-dip adding a subversive twist to an old classic."</p> <p>Munich Jewellery Week is an independent initiative that supports and communicates the yearly city-wide jewellery exhibitions that run parallel to the German Handwerk &amp; Design expo, and its historic jewellery and applied arts exhibitions: Schmuck, Talente, and Meister der Moderne.</p> <p>The exhibitions and artists who exhibited as part of Polyphonous 2019 were: Whispers &amp; Cries, Professor JivanAstfalck, Laura Bradshaw-Heap and Rachel Darbourne; animal/vegetable/mineral, Jillian Moore; What if..., Karen Vanmol and Katharina Naimer; NUMINOUS, Drew Markou and Bridie Lander; Qualia, Toni Mayner; Echoes of an Echo, Josefine Rønsholt Smith, Helen Clara Hemsley, Janne K. Hansen, and Mette Saabye, Adagio.Uno A special edition, Letizia Maggio, Raquel Bessudo with photography by Alice Brazzit; and Oscillations, SoJ MA Students.</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-craft-material-practices" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Find out more about our BA (Hons) 3D Design Crafts programme</a></li><li><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/study/postgraduate" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">See our range of MA programmes available to study</a></li><li><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/open-days" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Interested in checking out our range of programmes and our world-class facilities? Book your place at our next Open Day.</a></li></ul>