WoodenGold

Edition Five Feature
Words by: Stephen Cichocki 
Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK    
Photo Credit: ©Stephen Cichocki @wooden.gold 

I’m Stephen, and I started and now run a jewellery company called WoodenGold, along with my wife, Lisa. We live and work in Cardiff, Wales, UK, which is a great city. Being from Manchester, I originally came here to do a degree in fine art – sculpture, specifically – and never left. 

My background in sculpture has left me with a pretty playful approach to making. I’ve had the opportunity to work around South Wales in theatre, television and film using every material and technique you could think of. From creating fake blood to turning metal, dressing sets and making foam swords, I have pretty much done it all. 

I think the making process is more interesting to me than the finished piece: the final outcome is actually just the by-product of a perfectly orchestrated technique. The technique that I use to make jewellery is absolutely fascinating. It is called the sand cast method, which is the oldest metal pouring technique known to history (the oldest cast metal object is a copper frog from Egypt, dating from 3000 BC).