Conversation Piece, a collaborative practice initiated in 2011 by artists Beatrice Brovia and Nicolas Cheng, is a hands-on study on interconnectedness and interdependency, and an ongoing reflection on making together across differences, through conversation, misunderstanding and friction.  

Starting from their personal experiences with their collaboration – which can be seen as a conversation between four hands and two sensibilities – the lecture will reflect on the essential role friction plays for making practices, and to engaging with the world. 

Brovia and Cheng will discuss complex material narratives that are recurring in their work, understanding collaboration as a technology that renders us able to think with as well as to respond to others.

Hospitality will be provided. Booking is free here. 

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Beatrice Brovia (Italy/ Sweden) and Nicolas Cheng (Hong Kong/ Sweden) are jewellery artists, researchers and cross-disciplinary makers based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Brovia received a BSc in Interior Architecture from Politecnico di Milano, and an MFA in Jewellery and Corpus from Konstfack, in 2009; since 2013 she has been working as lecturer on art jewellery at Ädellab, Konstfack, where she is currently head of the Bachelor Program.

Cheng graduated with a BA from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2006, and earned his MFA in Jewellery and Corpus from Konstfack in 2010. In 2019, he obtained his PhD in Crafts from the University of Gothenburg. 

While maintaining an individual studio practice, in 2011 Brovia and Cheng co-founded Conversation Piece in Stockholm, a collaborative artistic practice with a main focus on jewellery, materiality and craft discourse. Conversation Piece was awarded the First Prize (professional category) - New Traditional Jewellery at the 2014 Sieraad Art Fair, and the Bronze Prize at the 2015 Cheongju International Craft Biennale. Their collaborative work has been published and exhibited internationally, among venues such as Triennale Design Museum (Italy), MAD – The Museum of Arts and Design (United States of America), Design Miami and Basel (United States of America/ Switzerland) and The Dowse Art Museum, (New Zealand).

Brovia and Cheng are visiting New Zealand on Blumhardt Foundation's inaugural residency.