London artist Joy Bonfield-Colombara is showcasing her first solo exhibition in the UK, titled *Between Ruin and Root*, at the Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery through November 10. The show features more than 20 pieces, including six new works, exploring themes of transformation through intricately crafted jewellery that blurs the line between traditional adornment and sculptural art.

Bonfield-Colombara, who works under the name Joy BC, is known for her painstaking handcrafting process involving bronze and precious metals. Drawing inspiration from ancient Roman and Greek art and mythology, the London-based artist creates pieces that carry deeply personal narratives. Her work often incorporates fragments of classical sculptures, isolating faces or eyes and reimagining them as wearable art.

One centerpiece of the exhibition is the *Blood, Sweat & Tears* ring, an 18-carat yellow gold creation that incorporates a natural, unheated Mozambique ruby shaped as a teardrop. The design references the physical and emotional intensity involved in Bonfield-Colombara’s creative process. The ring is part of her ongoing *Precious Tears* series, which seeks to reframe crying as a symbol of strength and transformation. Bonfield-Colombara's research into tears spans mythology and science, examining how tears are viewed across cultures and their distinct chemical compositions depending on emotion.

Several other new works continue her exploration of themes including mortality and renewal. The *Buried/Planted* ring incorporates a gold seed cast from an apple seed from Bonfield-Colombara’s mother’s tree, set inside a skull formed from recycled medical X-ray film. Using AgAIN silver, the piece’s oxidized interior contrasts with the golden seed, reflecting the concept of death as a form of planting or growth. Another pendant in yellow gold and bronze draws on imagery from the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome, where poet John Keats is interred. The bronze was patinated using a Japanese technique the artist studied during her time in Tokyo, emphasizing a connection to natural materials and subtle tonal shifts.

Bonfield-Colombara’s experience studying and researching in Japan has significantly influenced her approach, particularly her interest in metal colouration and techniques such as kintsugi—the art of repairing broken ceramics with gold seams. Two pendants in the exhibition incorporate this concept, with one featuring a cracked portrait of Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, symbolizing the fragility of the environment and the seasonal cycles amid climate concerns. The fissures are highlighted with old-cut diamonds representing rain.

A triptych of brooch-like combs continues her fascination with mythological figures, notably the Greek Gorgon Medusa and the Japanese yamamba, a folklore character with a hidden mouth beneath her hair. These pieces combine elements of delicacy and transformation, drawing on a Meiji-period Japanese comb that inspired their form.

Elisabetta Cipriani, the gallery’s owner, praised Bonfield-Colombara’s evolving craft and vision, attributing recent developments to mentorship from Italian goldsmith Giovanni Corvaja. Cipriani described the artist as exceptionally talented and emphasized that Bonfield-Colombara “deserves” a solo exhibition, highlighting the significance of this debut show in London’s jewellery art scene.