jewellery feature ― janine combes

Image Details: Janine Combes, Words for Place, 2024, necklace, engraved marine plywood, ink, sterling silver

Rich blue, vibrant magenta and bright green. The stunningly creative jewellery of Janine Combes takes on an electric palette as she explores an exciting new medium.

In This Place Janine retains her signature trademarks of inscribed words and organic shapes. But in a bold new direction, she produces gorgeous necklaces, earrings and brooches crafted from Tasmanian timbers which have been ink-stained in vibrant colours. “I have traditionally worked with metals but I am becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental footprint of this valuable resource,” Janine explains. “My partner builds wooden boats and I decided to recycle his off-cuts. Pieces left over and abandoned by other hands.”

This Place explores our connection to the world around us, and one of Janine’s hero pieces, her statement necklace Words for Place, encapsulates this to perfection as “text, land and seascapes merge.” A studio on Bruny Island is Janine’s creative space, and this necklace is crafted from rough-hewn pieces of wood stained a sea-blue “that remind us of Tasmania’s rugged coastline.”

Words carved into the wood echoing the meaning of place, tumble over the edge. “In life we never see the whole thing, just part of the story.” Janine’s beautiful pieces are treasures worthy enough to be handed down through the generations: “Wearing these artworks we signal a sense of belonging.”

Janine Combes jewellery exhibition This Place opens at Handmark Gallery on Thursday, March 7 and runs until March 18.

View exhibition here.