Dowse: The New Age Goldsmith — Nothing Serious

ESSENCE

What makes us perceive something as beautiful? When does an object transform into a piece of jewellery? How can we approach an art form in which the canvas is the human body? Why forge something ancient in the modern era? Where is the meeting point between science and art, engineering and magic? This cosmic transmission comes from Sean Dowse, a new age Goldsmith from Dublin, Ireland. Here, he discusses the concept of what makes something beautiful through the lens of creating jewellery.

What Makes Something Beautiful?

Introduction | 30.4.25

The Italian painter, Elio Carletti, once described beauty as a summation of the parts working together in such a manner that nothing need be added, taken away, nor altered. And so begets a myriad of abstract questions in the realm of creating jewellery. Questions such as: How do we design beauty? How do we instil it within an object? How do we combine elements in such a precise fashion that we feel as though, as Carletti would argue, not an ounce of the final form need be eradicated…

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The Jewellery of Dowse

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The Object Dude and his Silver Owls

Importance | 30.4.25

Is some form of reverence forever at the core of what we deem to be beautiful? Whether that be a widely accepted form of beauty — Nature, for example — Or whether that be within more personal forms, like the niche things we find beautiful in other people, or the areas of life we direct more of our energy toward because we believe they align closer with our innate being…

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Jewellery and Jazz

Craft | 30.4.25

There’s that familiar sentiment: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But this idea marks only one side of the relationship: The audience, the receiver. Where is beauty for the creator? Should an artist aim to be the beholder of their own work? Is this even possible? And if so, at what point does the beauty of something manmade materialise? Well, undoubtedly the answer lies deep within a focus on process…

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The Tools of a New Age Goldsmith

Customised Dowse tools for forming beauty.

The Meeting of Magic and Science

Truth | 30.4.25

There is a meeting point between mathematics and emotion. We tend to separate one from the other believing that logic cannot apply to the messiness of human feeling. But our cosmos is governed by laws. Music uses math to make its effect. Jewellery uses physics to form its pieces…

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Dowse Sketchbook

3D ideas captured in raw form.

The Paradox of Minimalist Jewellery

Authenticity | 30.4.25

Similar to art mediums like clothing and tattooing, jewellery awaits a final crowning before fitting into its full definition. It is art formed around the body. An ancient practice of decorating the living form…

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Symposium Artwork

Campaign for a conversation. Dowse photography.

Making Something You Really Love

Love | 30.4.25

It's inherent. It’s an immediate type of response that you're going to have, because some things are only beautiful once you realise the importance or significance of them, and then there's some things that you look at, and, it's beautiful…

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