It is our pleasure to welcome you to the fifth issue of The Vessel entitled The Outermost Layer. Edited by artists, and educators Camilla Luihn and Agnieszka Knap, this issue offers a thought-provoking selection of texts that showcase the many possibilities and complexities of working with metal art and jewellery. We invite you to explore the power of adornment and the ways in which metal art and jewellery can serve as vessels for meaning, memory, and identity. Through the diverse perspectives and voices represented in this issue, we hope to ignite your curiosity and inspire you to explore the outermost layer.

The Outermost Layer, the fifth issue of The Vessel, explores various aspects of art jewellery and metal art through 9 interviews, essays, and articles edited by artists Camilla Luihn and Agnieszka Knap and published by Norwegian Crafts.

The issue challenges the presumed permanence of jewellery, and examines the significance of jewellery and metal art in relation to identity and the body, as well as the sociopolitical impact of wearable signs and adornment.

In The Outermost Layer your can read features interviews and articles by Olaf Hodne, Anne Klontz, Johanna Zanon, Linn Sigrid Bratland, Julia Wild, and Katharina Dettar, as well as Jokum Lind Jensen and Vivi Touloumidi, showcasing the works of artists including Kristine Ervik, Ingvild Reinton, Renate Dahl, Lauren Kalman, Sayo Ota, and Judit Fritz.

Linn Sigrid Bratland’s essay looks at surface work, a time-consuming and often tedious part of any craft process, which today is being revolutionised by emerging technologies and automatic processes. Bratland highlights the possibilities of these aids while emphasising the importance of safeguarding manual skills and tacit knowledge.