Roni Levy, winner of the Winterson Prize 2021
The winner of this year’s Central Saint Martin’s Winterson Prize is Roni Levy, a designer whose isolation in her apartment sparked an extraordinary journey of reimagining humble materials.
Inspired by the onion’s natural architecture, the collection 'Revealing' tells a story about layers of hidden meaning and story. Painstakingly recreating exaggerated forms of classical styles, Roni has created a collection of exquisite poetry, and it was her oversized pearl necklace, created in white onion skin, that captured our attention from this year’s crop of fantastic design talent.
“My references stem from classical jewellery styles, commercially defined patterns and materials in an exaggerated fashion,” says winner Roni Levy. Visiting the abundant greengrocers along a stretch of North London streets, Roni daily collected the waste onion skins from the base of the display baskets.
“The discarded onion skins dissipate into a translucent material that is both biodegradable, durable and lightweight,” says Roni. “Seen at first as a benign and forgotten resource, I hoped within my practice and throughout this process of discovery to question pre-existing concepts of luxury.”
Using the veneer of the skins, whilst reconstituting their own natural colour and qualities, the process is rooted in transformation. A food industry waste product, crafted into alluring jewellery, Roni is a deserving winner of this year’s Winterson prize.
The Winterson prize celebrates the value of design, encouraging the superlative talents of Central Saint Martin’s students to reimagine what might be possible with this most classic of luxury gems.
Image 1: Pearl XL dangle earring, white onion skins, silk thread and recycled white metal, Roni Levy
Image 2: Pearl necklace, white onion skins and recycled white metal, Roni Levy
Andrew Fraser, Director at Winterson, commented, “We are delighted to be working again with Central Saint Martin’s BA Jewellery and to be in the wonderful position of having so much great work to consider for this year for the Winterson prize. We loved Roni’s process, the natural material and the alluded to relationship (maybe unintended) between the layers of the onion and the layers of nacre on a pearl. The colours and texture of her pieces are really quite beautiful.”
Winterson’s Creative Director Alice Cicolini concurs, “Roni is a great winner for 2021, her resourcefulness and innovative thinking combining to create a truly inspiring collection. It's such a difficult design task to reimagine the pearl necklace in a way that is truly unique and Roni has manage to achieve it at such an early stage in her career. We're so looking forward to seeing how her work evolves.”
Giles Last, BA Jewellery Design Course Leader commented "The Winterson award is a wonderful recognition of the innovation, imagination, design and craftsmanship of our students. Roni's work is delightfully conceived, beautifully made".
Inspired by the onion’s natural architecture, the collection 'Revealing' tells a story about layers of hidden meaning and story. Painstakingly recreating exaggerated forms of classical styles, Roni has created a collection of exquisite poetry, and it was her oversized pearl necklace, created in white onion skin, that captured our attention from this year’s crop of fantastic design talent.
“My references stem from classical jewellery styles, commercially defined patterns and materials in an exaggerated fashion,” says winner Roni Levy. Visiting the abundant greengrocers along a stretch of North London streets, Roni daily collected the waste onion skins from the base of the display baskets.
“The discarded onion skins dissipate into a translucent material that is both biodegradable, durable and lightweight,” says Roni. “Seen at first as a benign and forgotten resource, I hoped within my practice and throughout this process of discovery to question pre-existing concepts of luxury.”
Using the veneer of the skins, whilst reconstituting their own natural colour and qualities, the process is rooted in transformation. A food industry waste product, crafted into alluring jewellery, Roni is a deserving winner of this year’s Winterson prize.
The Winterson prize celebrates the value of design, encouraging the superlative talents of Central Saint Martin’s students to reimagine what might be possible with this most classic of luxury gems.
Image 1: Pearl XL dangle earring, white onion skins, silk thread and recycled white metal, Roni Levy
Image 2: Pearl necklace, white onion skins and recycled white metal, Roni Levy
Andrew Fraser, Director at Winterson, commented, “We are delighted to be working again with Central Saint Martin’s BA Jewellery and to be in the wonderful position of having so much great work to consider for this year for the Winterson prize. We loved Roni’s process, the natural material and the alluded to relationship (maybe unintended) between the layers of the onion and the layers of nacre on a pearl. The colours and texture of her pieces are really quite beautiful.”
Winterson’s Creative Director Alice Cicolini concurs, “Roni is a great winner for 2021, her resourcefulness and innovative thinking combining to create a truly inspiring collection. It's such a difficult design task to reimagine the pearl necklace in a way that is truly unique and Roni has manage to achieve it at such an early stage in her career. We're so looking forward to seeing how her work evolves.”
Giles Last, BA Jewellery Design Course Leader commented "The Winterson award is a wonderful recognition of the innovation, imagination, design and craftsmanship of our students. Roni's work is delightfully conceived, beautifully made".
Image Credits:
With thanks to Roni Levy and the CSM BA Jewellery team.
