Time Piece - A Day In My Life
A rhythmic, repetitive, minimalist, complex piece, it is very personal and full of symbolism. I amalgamated two huge life events this year, my 60th birthday and my father’s Alzheimers diagnosis. I stamped every birthday in my life on individual squares of brass, a reference to a memory calendar we bought for my father in an effort to keep track of time. It was a slow process, ironically made slower by the extra caring responsibilities. The interactive piece has clever connections and, with initial instruction, enables it to be worn/displayed three ways.
One long piece marks all my birthdays at once. When the wearer walks, it moves to resemble the double helix in a DNA molecule.
Altered to attach the two ends, my birth day and my 60th birthday, the piece drapes on the torso. On its return up the body the backs of the squares are exposed, blank like my fathers memory.
The chain mechanism on the back allows the piece to be “drawn” for privacy like a Venetian blind, the squares tight together.
Winner of the A-FAD Enjoai’t Contemporary Jewellery Awards Barcelona 2026, Professional Category.
“The jury selected this piece as the winner for the sensitivity with which Traynor transforms a deeply personal experience into a work of universal significance. Within a single piece of jewellery, 60 years of life coexist: what we remember, what we accumulate, what we inherit, and also what we inevitably begin to lose. The jury particularly highlighted the coherence between the concept and the final piece: The use of materials, the manufacturing process and even the photographs support the discourse in a very balanced way. It is important to say that it is a manifesto piece and that it speaks for itself. We were particularly interested in how this emotional content ceases to be merely symbolic and becomes a physical experience. The piece has weight. The person wearing it does not simply contemplate or interpret a story, but feels it on the body. The weight of the metal thus becomes the weight of years lived, memories, affections, absences and all the experiences accumulated throughout a life. It was this depth, combined with a strong formal restraint, that particularly moved the jury: “A piece that is minimalist yet complex, delicate yet heavy, intimate yet universal. A jewel capable of speaking about memory through its absence, about time through its weight, and about an entire life through a single object.”
Written by Paulo Ribeiro, founder of the creative agency Le Département and CONTEMPORANIA High Craftmanship Barcelona, and Cécile Maes, content editor at Klimt02, on behalf of the jury's thoughts.
All photos - Penny McGovern