Have you ever experienced the sensation of floating whilst drifting off to sleep? For jewellery designer Inca Starzinsky this was a nightly occurrence during childhood - the mid-way point between sleep and wakefulness when the Central Saint Martins’ and Royal College of Art graduate felt her body hovering over objects, houses, and people.

Although Inca’s nocturnal adventures came to an abrupt end with the onset of adulthood, she has never forgotten the sense of freedom, hope, and limitless imagination that these dreams evoked. Inca channels these feelings into Float, a new fine jewellery collection set to debut at Shine 2024.

Drawing from her background in graphic design and screen printing, Inca conveys themes of childhood reverie and fun in her jewellery through vibrant splashes of enamel, hand-painted onto puffy, press-formed shapes. Resembling clouds or balloons, these shapes are actually letters merged together. Hidden messages that espouse hope and joy, and in the case of her brooches, can be worn close to the heart.

Exploring Jewellery and Other Mediums
I originally studied Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins in London and spent almost my entire third year in the screen printing department. After college, they offered me an artist in residency. I was there for about five years, and once the residency ended, I realised I wanted to make the shapes I was printing into three-dimensional forms, into sculptures, rather than just have them in two dimensions, on paper. So back then, I thought the best solution was to study Printed Textile Design, because it came close to screen printing, and whatever material I was printing on would then be wrapped around or applied to a three-dimensional shape. I did that course at the Royal College of Art, also here in London and by the end of it, I decided I didn't want to pursue a career in the textile industry or the interior industry. I wanted to make work under my own name. So I tried different routes with making. I made  scarves and was involved in art projects, and eventually I settled on jewellery.

I just felt it was the most versatile medium for what I wanted to do. However, I didn't have the knowledge for working with metal, so I came across K2 Jewellery Academy in the Cockpit Arts Studios in Central London. I saw the students work at Open Studio, and I was so excited about it, because everyone used different materials in combination with metal, and I thought that fits exactly with my background and that’s what I want to do. I wanted to keep all the knowledge I learned from graphic design and textile design, and combine that with jewellery making.

K2 Jewellery Academy seemed open-minded enough to help me pursue this. I intended to just do one term, but ended up staying for three years, because I kept coming across something else I wanted to learn. Eventually, after three years, I thought: I don't know everything yet, but I know enough to learn from my own mistakes and figure out problems by myself. So about two years ago, I started my own workshop. Bit by bit, I bought more and more tools, and now I have my first collection made in metal, which I'm showing at Shine.

Shine 2024: A Milestone Moment
Being chosen for Shine 2024 means a lot to me because my work hasn’t had much exposure yet. I know what I’m doing is a bit different or niche, so it might take me a while before I find my ideal customer, but Shine will help me identify that client base. I’ve learned so much through the programme already. Every day for the past two weeks I’ve been filming something, and through trial and error, I’m finally getting the results I wanted, even though it’s something I was initially unsure about. Throughout this whole process, I’ve had to rethink my work and learn to articulate it and it has clarified the meaning behind it. I’ll be able to apply all the things I’ve learned to future projects, especially the filming. My language isn’t nearly as good as some people I worked with in the past and this is why I’m sometimes unsure of myself when speaking. I’ve grown less worried about that though, because at the end of the day, this is me and I’m expressing who I am and what my work is about. Throughout the programme, I’ve started the process of dropping this insecurity.

Creative Process and Inspiration
My ideas can literally come from anything around me - from nature, people, something someone said, a moment or an experience, a memory. Sometimes the ideas can be very trivial to start with, but through a thinking and a working process, they grow. I don’t really sketch - my sketchbook is just full of words and writing, with the odd scribble. Instead, I tend to make models out of paper, clay, wax, or fabric, whatever material I think the idea might best be represented with. Then from just using my hands and experimenting, the idea starts to take shape or I keep working until it does. That’s often how I come across new techniques that I need to learn, and I always find that very exciting. Jewellery is a three-dimensional object, it’s supposed to be held, touched, and worn, so I think this process just comes naturally to me.

Float: A Collection of Dreams and Memories
The collection I'm showing at Shine is called Float. The initial spark of inspiration came from being surrounded by my kids and the different things they say. Particularly one conversation with my daughter, where she was questioning death. Her main concern about death was that it meant someday, the fun would stop. I thought that was so sweet - that life equals fun for her. As a child, the world is open to you, and all the possibilities are still there, but as adults, our outlook is completely different. It made me reflect on my childhood and how I saw my future and what I dreamt of. It made me recall a recurring dream I’d had when I was little - when I’d be in this semi-conscious state, halfway between awake and asleep. I’d have this sensation of floating above houses, objects, and people, and at the same time I’d feel very, very heavy. It was surreal and dream-like but I wasn’t quite asleep. At some point I stopped having that dream. I can't remember what age but I clearly remember that I really missed it, but it never, ever came back.

So I took this conversation with my daughter and came up with some pieces. The idea was to take some words that I’d heard my kids say and transform them into puffy balloon letters. Because they are made of metal, they are really heavy. So there is this juxtaposed sensation of being heavy and light at the same time - like my dream. The colourful paint represents the fun. As I was working, I realised I didn't want the letters to look like these commercial balloons you can buy in any shop. I wanted them to be more personal than that, so I decided to draw them by hand. I dripped paint onto paper, then scanned the letters and traced them in Illustrator to make various thicknesses. At first, you could read the words clearly, but further on in the collection, I decided to merge the letters together. It’s almost like they’re melting together like clouds. So every piece is made up of a real word, they’re not just random shapes. The idea is that these dreams, these hopes, they become blurred, you can’t read them anymore. They become like a secret that you can keep close to you. Especially the brooches - they’re like a dream you can keep close to your heart. I had a thought recently that they’re like a happy version of the mourning brooch.

Once I have the shape, I cut it out in perspex, then pressform two metal sheets together to create the shape. I cut out the two domed-shaped pieces out and solder them together to create these puffy, hollow-looking forms, and add a ring or a pin onto them. The last part, which is the most fun, is the painting in enamel; choosing a colour and dripping the paint on. I can control it very well, but sometimes, you just don't know where the paint will flow, but I quite like that, because the outcome is unpredictable, and that’s how life is. You don’t know where it will go next.