The Secret Language

Touch & Intimacy

In this series of jewelry made from wool, silver, silicone, and silk, there are no clear symbols, no narrative line, and almost no textual or visual centre. Yet the pieces seem to whisper. They settle on intimate areas of the body—nestled along the collarbone, wrapping the wrist, resting lightly on the shoulder—as if waiting to be understood. Ornament here is no longer decoration but an extension of the body itself, an externalisation of tactile awareness. These works do not conform to categories such as necklace, bracelet, or brooch, but drift, float, and attach across multiple layers of skin. The materials are soft and the structures dispersed, yet never without order. Each cluster of raised dots and each linear thread implies rhythm and tactile direction, guiding the wearer to re-sense their own body through touch. As viewers, we remain outsiders; as wearers, we become part of the work. Stroking these soft and grainy surfaces awakens emotions that resist quick words. Jewelry thus becomes a sensory practice, reactivating suppressed pathways of perception through repeated touch.

Language & Transformation

This work stems from a fascination with invisible languages—subtle codes that transcend words. Drawing on Braille, The Secret Language explores touch as expression, especially when verbal language fails in unfamiliar contexts. These codes are not translatable and resist linear logic, yet carry emotional legibility: raised textures invite one not to ‘understand meaning’ but to ‘feel presence’. Grounded in self-observation, the work translates responses to miscommunication, cross-cultural encounters, and language barriers into material and structural choices—a sensory map of emotion. Research shows humans can communicate up to eight emotions through touch alone (‘Touch communicates distinct emotions’, Hertenstein et al., 2006, Emotion). Today’s world is saturated with information and linguistic multiplicity; language is both bridge and barrier. The series responds with soft forms and repetitive textures that stage a silent tactile dialogue, evoking intimacy and comfort. These wearable works mimic communicative skin—a second layer where expectation, adaptation, and emotion meet. Jewelry as tactile poetry, in search of unspoken understanding.