Carol Marando

Carol Marando , Australian bead-maker and jeweller received her B.A. (Visual Arts) from the City Art Institute in Sydney, in 1981. She worked as a professional painter and printmaker for 16 years. During this time she also made jewellery from found objects, fragments of old jewellery, beach glass, shells, antique buttons and beads. After much experimentation she found wire to be the most versatile and effective material for constructing her jewellery. It allowed an organic approach, which suited her spontaneous method of working. Once her collection of found objects was depleted she focused on beads as the major component of her work. Her ambition was to create one-off individualistic pieces, however the lack of diversity in commercially available beads at that time eventually presented a problem for an artist who is always looking for something new.
In 1994, after seeing a bead by American Brian Kirkvliet, Carol became aware of the infinite possibilities of lamp work bead making. In 1995 lamp work bead making was virtually non-existent in Australia and it was almost impossible to find a teacher, consequently Carol is self-taught, which she sees as a positive factor because she can make beads without the restrictions of convention or tradition. The aesthetic vocabulary developed in her years of working as a painter translates and find new forms in her bead making.
Carol regularly adds new skills to her jewellery making techniques, including silver smithing and enamelling. In 1998 she attended a murrini-making workshop with Brian Kirkvliet at the Canberra School of Arts. Now her unique murrinis add to the distinctive look of her beads.

Earrings

Necklaces