616 Presents: Phil Renato finds discipline in jewelry making and design
Phil Renato takes an approach opposite to industrial design when making jewelry by making art for art’s sake.
On this week’s podcast, Fernando Ramirez talks with Phil Renato about his take on design.
Since earning his undergrad at Eastern University in the Painting and Metal Smithing program, Renato has explored and learned new processes in design and jewelry making. Now, he is a professor at Kendall College of Art and Design, teaching in the Industrial Design and Jewelry Making courses.
For Renato, it is important for him to start with a general form or process to explore, without an end result or a problem to solve in mind in his jewelry work. Jewelry is not functional, but instead is ornamental in nature, which leads Renato to create it as an art for the sake of art.
Renato has roots starting at his high school, which offered vocational courses in advertisement and design, with intense work doing detailed renderings using only a grey prismacolor marker in the days before Mac computers were around.
These types of courses offered a sense of discipline for Renato, and prepared him for his time at Eastern. Though he started off as a Graphic Designer, he eventually broke away to explore the exact opposite — painting.
With the need for more strict guidlines, and an interest in body jewelry, Renato found himself taking Metal Smithing classes instead, and found a home in that form of art.
Find out more about Phil Renato on his website.
616 Presents is a podcast recorded at Light Gallery + Studio in Grand Rapids, MI. With a focus on Art, Design, and Community, conversations are had with the movers and shakers living in Grand Rapids — or just passing through. The hosts for 616 Presents are Erika Townsley, Fernando Ramirez, and Matthew Provoast. Recording supported by Kearney Creative.
