Stefanie Cheong

Scottish rocks, Isle of Skye
Stefanie Cheong searching for rocks in a Scottish river

Stefanie Cheong is a Glasgow-based Artist Jeweller who specialises in using found Scottish rock with Fairtrade and recycled metals.

She sources and collects rocks from all over Scotland which she then cuts using traditional lapidary techniques with a contemporary aesthetic.

Stefanie Cheong - stack of cut Scottish stones
Stefanie Cheong's interchangeable ring with a selection of cut stones
Stefanie Cheong's interchangeable ring with cut stones

Elevating the beauty of the rich and abundant geology formed in Scotland, Stefanie makes art objects and jewellery that encourage sustainable design through interchangeable elements. Her practice has been built, and is continuing to develop, by consideration of ethical and sustainable practice: she states that she is always learning and questioning as she makes.

Recycling Metal & Making Sculptural Rings
Collecting and Cutting Rocks
Stefanie Cheong, 'Layers of Landfill' neckpiece, close-up

Recent developments, as a result of a collaboration with Poon (Kawisara Anansaringkarn) of Coth Studio in Thailand, has seen Stefanie’s work explore e-waste to make ‘future fossils’. They both took part in Applied Arts Scotland’s International Exchange Project and met properly during a 10-day residency at Cove Park in Argyll & Bute.

As part of their collaboration, Stefanie has embedded e-waste into jesmonite to form new kinds of rocks that she treats in the same way as her Scottish rocks, and presents the work as jewels hoping to make a statement about our throwaway culture and waste streams caused by it.

Stefanie Cheong, E-waste Interchangeable Rock Ring

You can read the full story about their collaboration in a blog post Stefanie wrote for Applied Arts Scotland. She has also written a post for Craft Scotland as part of their ‘Make it Green‘ series.

To end, here’s a short timelapse film that shows Stefanie & Poon dismantling an old telephone at Cove Park in order to repurpose its innards!

Click to go to Stefanie’s website