We were 40 hand-picked goldsmiths who were invited to create ”A piece of jewellery inspired by a sea creature and featuring either a pearl, amber or coral as the main gemstone”. What an honour! My very first exhibition! I felt excited, humbled and terrified all at the same time, and was determined to repay Nina Hald's faith in my abilities. So… no pressure!
The invitation arrived in the summer of 2019, and the deadline for submitting pictures of the finished jewellery was in February. Plenty of time, one would think, but no matter how much I worked on the design, it just wasn't working. I had looked at lots of pictures of octopuses and jewellery depicting an octopus, and those that captured something of the right feeling, I gathered into a collage, which I hung on the wall next to my wax working station. However, the breakthrough only came when I had the idea that the octopus should be clinging to the necklace itself. At that point, there were only a few days left until I had to shut down for Christmas!
I busily started working with wax and managed to carve a rough version before going on a well-deserved Christmas holiday. Back again, many more hours of wax carving awaited me before I felt confident enough in my design to send it for casting. At this point, I knew the shape wasn't quite finished, but as wax is a bit brittle and therefore cracks easily – especially long, slender arms like my octopus's – I had to throw in the towel at one point. Now I could wait to finish the creature once it was a bit more robust after casting – because it was now made of metal.
What came back was big, heavy and clunky – despite me having done my best to slenderise the design in the wax version. So now followed yet more hours of removing and shaping, before I was ready to take the mould of this original, smooth KRAKEN. Once the mould had been created, and I could thus get a wax copy of the octopus, I set about adorning it with suckers. Perhaps you're wondering why I didn't do this on the original, carved wax model? As I've just described: I knew in advance that I wouldn't be satisfied with the mould of the original, and if I had placed the suckers on the original wax, I would have just ended up removing them again in order to perfect the mould of the squid's arms.
When the second version returned from casting, I took another mold, which allows me to create copies in the future, before I could finally finish my octopus. The result is magnificent and beautiful with its white freshwater pearls and sea-blue diamond eyes which hide slightly and glitter menacingly against the unsuspecting observer.
In this video, you can see the entire process from start to finish:
Super nerdy or mainstream nerdy name?
Very early in my work, the creature gave me a distinct Cthulhu-esque feeling. This cephalopod was not intended as a natural animal, but my interpretation of a mythical sea monster, so it was given a face that could well resemble Cthulhu’s – a gigantic, god-like monster from the Arkham Horror universe, originally conceived by H.P. Lovecraft in his short story “Call of Cthulhu”. Lovecraft only wrote a couple of stories in the 1920s, but his universe has inspired geeks worldwide ever since. Through fan art both in fiction and images, as well as a whole host of games, the dark and (literally) crazy universe has become... a kind of mainstream. At least among geeks, who seem to be far more numerous now than when I was a teenager and young.
Illustration by Sofyan Syarief
Most non-nerds, however, wouldn't know who Cthulhu is – or even attempt to pronounce the name – so I chose to name my octopus after a more mainstream monster, namely the KRAKEN, seen in blockbusters such as Pirates of the Caribbean or Clash of the Titans (“Release the Kraken!”).
Incidentally, the name originally comes from the collection of Norwegian myths, while the German name for a kraken is “Krake”. In other words: a name that was much more accessible and relatable for the many.
You can see the original and very first KRAKEN at the museum. Fjord & Belt in Kerteminde until December 2020, along with works by 39 other talented jewellery makers. It IS for sale, but for obvious reasons, you cannot collect it until the exhibition is taken down. However, if you would like a copy, perhaps with your own twist, such as different coloured eyes, different drops hanging from the chains or no oxidation, you can contact me at design@castens.com or telephone +45 32 200 444
See close-up images and buy your own KRAKEN here:
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