Over the last two weeks, I’ve really enjoyed creating this piece. It gave me the chance to create something entirely new out of discarded materials, whilst knowing my final piece would have no lasting effect of the environment.

I was initially working with ideas from the icebreaker project where I became fascinated by the look of folded paper. I began making the same forms I’d made previously but from recycled cardboard. However, I didn’t like how the shapes looked in cardboard so I started looking at different repeat shapes. I started making cubes and cylinders from thin patterned cardboard and found that they worked better due to the simplicity of the shapes combined with the pattern and colours.

My main inspirations for this piece were Elizabethan ruffs and Ancient Egyptian collar necklaces. Being able to combine such historic designs with a very current world issue like recycling and ethical making was an interesting challenge.

After making a couple of test pieces, I decided to go with the cylinder shape and worked with wire to create three different sized ruffs that can be worn together or separately.

  Using recycled materials to design and make a neck piece based on the theme of repetition. Using inspiration from the icebreaker paper project and translating this into recycled cardboard. Looking at simple repeated shapes like cubes and cylinders to create a neck piece.

Sketches of possible neck pieces using the cardboard cylinder idea.

I’m looking at Elizabethan ruffs and Egyptian collar necklaces for inspiration for the shape of the design and how it will sit on the wearer.