A €10,000 filigree skull made from 300g of silver on resin has been displayed in Valletta as part of an artist’s attempt to breathe new life into the classic craft.

Kevin Attard’s Mazza was shown at the Fairyland Market on Friday, January 6 and will also be featured at the Phoenicia Hotel on January 28.

Describing the work as his “masterpiece” and the epitome of his 37 years of experience, Attard does not see his creation as macabre but rather a representation of humanity.

“When you look at a skull, it’s like looking at yourself, the connection is immediate. It’s a reminder of who we are and where we’re going,” he said.

Attard specialises in filigree – a craft dating back to classical antiquity involving the intricate use of gold or silver threads for jewellery or decorative purposes.

The skull took 40 days to complete and involved traditional techniques in addition to new innovations, such as using separate pieces of resin to accurately model the jawbone and teeth in 3D.

The piece was briefly exhibited at the Christine X Art Gallery in Sliema following its completion and has not been shown to the public since.

It is the second skull the artist has created, with his previous work being sold to a private collector a decade ago. The latest has been valued at €10,000.

The concept was first suggested to him by a friend in Mexico, a country closely associated with skull-based iconography due to its Day of the Dead festival and Aztec history.

However, since then, Attard felt he could perfect the original.

“After the pandemic, it felt like now or never. You never know what might happen,” he said.

He is planning a third: in gold.

Attard also displayed a 100-piece functional jigsaw puzzle called Small Pieces Big Picture which “is introducing a new concept which hasn’t been done in filigree before”.

A puzzle for the digital age

The jigsaw utilises blockchain technology for a complementary non-fungible token (NFT).

Small Pieces Big Picture was created in collaboration with the Malta Craft Foundation and marries traditional filigree with modern technology. As well as the physical piece created by Attard in his workshop, the work has also been photographed and uploaded to the internet as a non-fungible token (NFT).

NFTs are a digital asset which represents creative works such as visual artworks, music and games. Each contains a unique certificate created using blockchain technology, which cannot be changed, forged, stolen or otherwise manipulated.

Non-fungible tokens have taken the digital art world by storm in recent years, with values of works skyrocketing from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. Like cryptocurrencies, however, their value is highly volatile.

“The visual design of the jigsaw is totally abstract, as the priority is the concept,” said Attard, when asked what inspired the work.

The jigsaw puzzle has already been sold, meaning that Friday’s exhibition was likely to be the last opportunity for the public to view the work.

It is not just jewellery, but a medium to convey emotion

Attard began his career in crafts from a young age assisting in his father’s workshop repairing jewellery. He trained in filigree and worked in one of Valletta’s leading jewellery shops before setting up his own workshop and becoming a full-time freelance craftsman.

While focusing on new works and innovative techniques, Attard remains committed to preserving traditional Maltese filigree techniques, regularly teaching courses in educational institutions and training apprentices.

The filigree revolution

Another local filigree craftsman, Mark Borg, has been making waves recently – quite literally.

The craftsman and former mechanic recently completed Simple Harmonic Wave, a new work featuring mechanised moving parts inspired by Borg’s experience with aircraft maintenance and passion for filigree.

Designed to evoke the movement of a wave, the piece features 37 ‘fingers’ made of PLA, a type of biodegradable plastic, coated with silver filigree. These are attached to a camshaft which moves the fingers in the motion of a wave.

“I’ve always found mechanical devices and machinery to be fascinating,” Borg says.

“Every kind of material is used by artists around the world to make sculptures, so it was only natural for me to mix filigree with a kinetic machine.”

I’ve always found mechanical devices and machinery to be fascinating

Simple Harmonic Wave took six months to complete and involved the use of 3D printing, reused wood from a kitchen cabinet and recycled silver from broken jewellery. The piece has been entered into the Premju Ġieħ l-Artiġjanat Malti.

Borg’s previous project was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s designs for an ornithopter, an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Last year, the piece placed second in the same competition organised by the foundation.

Borg is passionate about filigree and believes the ancient craft can remain relevant in the modern age and into the future.

“Filigree is a slowly dying art and it is up to us to give it a new life, hope and freedom. It is not just jewellery, but a medium to convey emotion, even in its movement.”