Timepiece for Your Waking Hours by Sue Beardman

Only Once - Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition 2026

16 rings and stand. Cinnamon incense, copper.
300 x 150 x 45mm

I was taken with the Only Once theme and wanted to create something that would last only briefly in its full form. I experimented with making incense – new to me – and made a mould from metal offcuts to form the rings in. During photography, the light, reflection and shadows suggested new forms. I made an additional ring and lit it. It produced the warm, spicy, slightly sweet scent of cinnamon and a fine ash. 

Sue lives and works on Gadigal land in Sydney’s inner west where she designs and makes contemporary jewellery, objects and small sculptures. She is interested in how we connect, cope and exist in the world. Most projects come back to that whether at an individual level, with another, in local communities or more broadly. Often, many or all of these levels are at play. At a more visceral level, her practice explores how ideas translate through design, the material palette and the tactile nature of turning these ideas into physical form. The connections that are made across pieces in each stage of making contribute to meaning within her work.
Key to her process, Sue writes to distil ideas and inform design development.
Sue holds a BA Hons Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia and qualifications from the University of Sydney and Curtin University. She has studied at the National Art School, Australian Centre for Photography and Sydney’s contemporary jewellery and metalsmithing studios.

Please note*
This piece is part of an exhibition, so when purchased please know that it will ship after the exhibition finishes on 27th September 2026.