ABOUT
Formina is a jewelry and metal collection by Mina Beckman. Inspired by mechanical and everyday bodies, her current work explores the interaction of the body and it’s adornments through hand-formed pieces. Mina draws on ancient and traditional craft and jewelry techniques where a non-standardized system of fabrication allows for unusual and interesting creativity in design. She uses this historical lineage as creative inspiration to reimagine the ways in which jewelry can be worn in everyday life.
The challenge and puzzle of creating pieces that have movement, minimal design, are hand-fabricated, and ultimately will interact with a body are at the core of Mina’s practice. Taking into account the patina and unique shape of the wearer’s person, the processes of being worn, used, and lived in are the final stages that finish each piece.
Over the past two years Mina has explored integrating a variety of materials such as mixed metals, acrylic, wood, and stone into her collection. The challenge of these different mediums allows for expansion—she finds the boundaries of each new material and pushes them into a form that speaks a coherent language with the rest of her collection.
Each material finds its place of functional beauty: the translucency of acrylic lends itself to the play of light and color; the hardness and fragility of stone exposes delicate internal tensions; the flexibility of wood allows for bending and shaping into sculptural geometries. The inherent mutability of metal to meld itself to another piece forges new landscapes for connection. With each aspect of craftsmanship, design, and material Mina confronts limitations and challenges expectations.
Mina Beckman grew up in a small town on the Oregon Coast. While attending Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts she began and ran the jewelry program there for three years. She received her BA in Jewelry, Mechanics, Sculpture, and Design from Hampshire College in 2013. After living and working for several years in Portland, OR, Mina and the Formina studio now are located in Los Angeles, CA.