Let them eat cake - Holding Place

Materials: aluminum, bleached abacca (hand made paper), warp, tool, and white spray paint
Dimensions: 11" x 9" x 1’3"

Rococo inspired corset that is to hold a woman’s body in place. The text says “Let them eat cake” and is place on the back of the piece. If worn, the arm of the person would hide the text and would represent the insult that the woman would be saying to others around her.
Tiffany Ann Gordon
Austin, Tx. USA

My name is Tiffany Gordon and I am a new artist. I study at Texas State University and my focus is primarily Fibers with Metals on the side. My work deals with the human body and the love of corsets. I like to think of a corset as a vessel that holds a person. My goal is to combined my two fields to work in harmony together and create a piece of art that is wearable. My pieces are constructed to be worn and to fit me. In the future I plan on making more wearable pieces and strive to create new and more unusual pieces of art.


These containers and vessels definitely hold their place in the world of stunning art objects as well as in the world of metalsmithing.

Since the dawn of time humans have created containers to hold things that were important to them, from large vessels to hold food and harvests to intimate containers for small precious things. They might hold memories, ashes, medicine, beverage, fruit or food - but all spring from the imagination and skill of the maker. Some have specific religious functions, some are meant for everyday use. When one thinks of a vessel or container the inclination is to think of something with solid walls - yet many of these works involve the exploration of positive and negative space, and the use of negative space to help create the illusion of the wall of the vessel.

As the world’s largest jewelry related internet site, Ganoksin strives to develop exhibitions showcasing work from around the world. This exhibition was open to all metalsmiths, professional and amateur, advanced and beginner. Participants are from The Netherlands, the USA, Canada, Australia, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Colombia, Romania, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia and Denmark. While most of the pieces are by an individual metalsmith, some are collaborations, one of three artists spanning 50 years.

In total 319 artists contributed 729 show pieces for the permanent online exhibition.

Objects in the exhibition include boxes, lockets, urns, ash containers, bowls, wine cups, reliquaries, match holders, vases, teapots, pitchers, sugar bowls, baskets, nests, pillboxes, clutches and a range of sculptural forms. A variety of techniques are showcased covering a wide range of metalsmithing techniques. Materials used include everything from gold and silver to less expensive metals. Ornamentation includes the addition of enamel, chasing and repousse’, gemstones and found objects.

The exhibition was curated by Beth Wicker, President of the North Carolina Society of Goldsmiths in the United States, and Adjunct Instructor at Northeastern Technical College in South Carolina. Director of the exhibition is Hanuman Aspler, founder of The Ganoksin Project, the world’s largest internet jewelry site.