KYE KNOWLES
Kye Knowles
Miniature Gramophone
2026, copper, brass, mild steel, high speed steel, 36 x 36 x 60 mm
Photography by Chris Bowes.
ARTIST STATEMENT
KYE KNOWLES
There is an overarching idea in the jewellery community that anything precious must be made from a precious metal. With the rising cost of silver, we are given opportunity to defy this idea. The current price of silver has given my work the ability to branch out away from traditional jewellery items, instead showing the ability of these “non-precious” metals to create works that can still be defined as precious. They are miniature objects that demonstrate different mechanisms allowing them to function the same as their full-sized counterparts, creating their own miniature world, a microcosm.
PROFILE
Kye Knowles’ motivation for making stems from a desire to understand how the world works. Creating allows him to explore mechanical techniques and design principles, often resulting in works with movable elements that invite interaction and discovery beyond a singular viewpoint. In a world where machines risk reducing creativity to automation, they see making as an essential human act, one rooted in history and critical to our future. Kye views art as a vessel for connection, exploration and understanding, emphasising the importance of sustaining creative practice as a fundamental part of what makes us human.
