Ilya Kursalin

I am inspired by not knowing what lays ahead, by the unknown. Starting points for my work can be stories, concepts and ideas. Various visual references to repeated shapes and forms and diverse elements found in mythology really fascinate me as they probably never have existed physically, but have been created by imaginative people and passed through legends, story telling and time.

Experimentation with materials is a further starting point. I work with materials in order to understand them better and produce models to see what I want to achieve. I value the unknown outcome in the use of materials. Very rapid sketches are my way of focusing on multiple ideas and keeping them with me before they can escape my thinking. Creating samples in 3D and promptly filtering through every tiny detail to get my results is very pleasing as I am extremely patient. It is satisfying to work in a sustained and focussed way.

Making samples leads me to final materials and textures and to the meaning of the pieces. Variation within repeated form recurs in my work; repetition and the production of multiples brings me to my final outcome.

Experiment with colour comes out of visual research and I paint as a way of recording visual thinking. I revisit a...

2011-2016 UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON, London, UK Central Saint Martins
BA (Hons) Jewellery Design

2009-2011 Barnet College
Art & Design BTEC National Diploma