Etienne Clerc

Following the work I made for the Graphic Design publication “Takeaway”, I used clay to shape 4 pendants. These pendants are thought of as reinterpretations of the logos of 4 institutions related to finance, housing and bureaucracy that I often had to deal with during my time in Amsterdam.

I had a Visa card but needed a MAESTRO one. I lived during one and a half year in a YMERE flat before I got kicked out. Because of the consequences of getting kicked out of my flat I never registered myself at the Gemeente and couldn't get a KVK number. I was so absent from the Dutch system that I had to compensate by still being present in the French one, which led me to keep filling these CERFA forms.

Haunted by these logos during the 4 years I spent in school, I wanted to use my graduation as an opportunity to pay my respects to them and to make an homage to the conflictual relationship we had. These symbols and their transposition into bling/jewellery are here used to question the tensions between right and duty, social status and bare necessities.