Corrina Goutos, originally from New York State and now based in Hamburg, Germany, is an artist specializing in jewelry, objects, and installations. She coined the term "Anthrosmithing" to define her innovative practice, which transforms post-consumer objects through masterful craftsmanship rooted in her goldsmithing expertise. Her future-oriented artifacts weave a narrative of humanity’s triumphs and excesses, blending pre-industrial techniques with mass-produced waste to challenge contemporary value systems at a critical time for reevaluation.
Scroll down for the Exclusive Interview and shop her collection at HBX.
HBX: Could you share a bit about yourself and what initially sparked your passion for creating art.
Corrina: I was lucky enough to grow up with immigrant grandparents who instilled in me a strong DIY, as well as entrepreneurial spirit. From a young age I reveled in imagining and realizing my own halloween costumes, making gifts for my friends and customizing my wardrobe. I thought sculpture and painting were the pinnacle for me, but after some years I lamented that others couldn’t connect with my work in the tactical sense that I could. At age 14, I found the synthesis of all my interests, jewelry and objects.
How did you become interested in jewelry? And what inspires your work?
I love the idea of speaking a material fluently like a goldsmith does gold; this listening, studying and co-creation dance of the artist and alchemy. However, I was always heavily put off by the ‘domination over nature’ subtext so prevalent in craft discourse. In keeping with my awe for nature and the material world, I coined the term "Anthrosmithing" to describe my interdisciplinary practice. Combining Anthropocene (the current geological epoch in which mankind's actions are irreversibly legible in the Earth’s strata) with Smithing, the handcraft of metal mastery. In doing so, I renounce the concept of a "raw material" and a “masterpiece”, and instead consider that when the craftsperson imprints themselves on a material, they are but one of many agents constantly reshaping it; all players in a complex, interconnected, living ecology. Just as natural forces such as erosion and oxidation make their mark, so too do I, as does Industrialization and so on and so forth. Each material I approach is already a conglomerate of several past-lives, a scrapbook of stories. My work gives that journey a stage. And I think, what better way to honor that story than by wearing it on the body and bonding it to lived experiences which further imprint it with significance.
Can you tell us about your journey from Upstate New York to Hamburg, Germany, and how this transition has influenced your artistic practice?
I have a hungry spirit and the states couldn’t keep me satiated for long. I was plotting my move abroad already in my late teens. I had heard lots about Berlin and decided to give it a go. Germany having one of the best handicraft scenes was a great place for me to anchor some of the pillars of my artistic practice. Although in many ways my aesthetic bears strong U.S. American traces, I credit the resources and connections I had access to in Europe largely for my success. Wherever I find ripe conditions for making my work, that’s where you will find me.
How would you describe your creative mission to someone who's just discovering your art for the first time?
My practice investigates future artifacts that tell a story of mankind in its full arch-from peak technological advancements to a decline into decadence. I translate this into materiality by applying precise pre-industrial handicraft to post-consumer detritus with the same intention a smith would give a rare resource of Earth. Things get liberated from their market values and identities, becoming greater than the sum of their parts-enlived through compassionate human touch. Sometimes the work takes the form of altars of material culture, or totems, or of sprawling installations of seemingly unrelated objects which appear to have arranged themselves of their own accord. And sometimes still, my jewelry resonates with pop-culture icons and have become signature accessories on album covers and graced major stages. This fluidity is a cornerstone of my practice. Whether or not my work lands in a heady art context, or is quickly consumed on social media, the narrative I needed to arrive at the idea remains the same. I love to see how people connect with the work in their prospective ways and how it lands in different places across the cultural spectrum.
In your exhibitions, you often explore themes of growth, decay, and metamorphosis. What draws you to fusing natural materials with discarded tech objects, and what message do you hope viewers/audience take away?
I like to play with language and with social constructs- prying open binaries and making room for grey zones. Combining natural materials with discarded tech objects questions the dichotomy of nature vs. industry. I hope, in encountering my eerily harmonious conglomerates, one might feel more comfortable with the true cyborgian nature of our times and see that the industrialized good is merely heavily manipulated nature. I try to give radical consideration to the political ecology of non-human agents by jumpstarting natural processes like decomposition; undoing human intervention to kickstart the post-consumer good’s rewilding process. In this way I hope to dismantle hierarchical narratives of the master craftsman with nature at his disposal, instead eliciting a sense of connection through making with materials.
Sustainability and upcycling are central to your work with found objects. How do you source your materials, and what challenges do you face in transforming mass-produced waste into something sacred or wearable?
As I mentioned before, I love the layers of stories embedded in the found objects I rework, but as much as the things themselves inspire me, so too does the context in which I find them. In my hunts I traverse flea markets and local ebay and sometimes even make calls for donations in my insta stories. I like that I can only make things as long as the universe is sending enough obsolete things my way. Of course this is a hurdle, when the world's demand is higher for that piece than the rate at which I can acquire their components. But that's part of the reeducation process for us all. The new luxury is the skill to transform and add value through prolonged longevity and the willingness to wait for quality. Each post-consumer good comes with its own challenges, and the learning curve to understand it, and then make a high-level piece out of it, often takes some years to get right. This is where my metalsmithing knowledge comes into play; if I can’t adapt an ancient handcraft technique to solve the problems of today, then, I turn to youtube.
You've created standout pieces like the Lit Clip worn by Dua Lipa, a pierced shell necklace worn by FKA Twigs — what's one memorable story from that experience, and how do collaborations with musicians or other artists fit into your vision ?
No two of these experiences are alike, I continue to be in awe of who comes to me, resonating with my creations. Most notable would be none other than Erykah Badu, an artist I admired for several decades and was therefore delighted to discover she was every bit as amazing as one expects her to be. We got in touch over instagram and right away she truly saw me and my vision and used her status to support me on a very personal level. This recognition not only gave me confidence, but it gave me a stronghold in an industry where stylists and other segways to celebrities often deal young designers and artists a rather unattractive hand. Some celebrities I have worked with I relate to less, however I revel in seeing where my work lands, with who and how. But most of all, the reach and the autonomy that these collaborations have given me as a small, unrepresented designer and artist is undeniable. It is a real sign of the times as well as a right of passage in my career for which I owe them, and the internet at large, many thanks.
HBX is thrilled to be stocking select pieces from your collection soon, bringing your anthrosmithing to a global audience of fashion-forward collectors. What excites you most about this partnership, and how do you envision your upcycled wearables resonating with our/the fashion community?
I share HBX’s enthusiasm for interdisciplinarity and believe that this community will be able to appreciate our further pushing the boundaries of art, fashion and culture. Connecting with other such pioneers is essential to reshaping the industry and moving into a more conscientious mode of self-expression and collecting. I am impressed by HBX’s attention to my artistic journey, and for their reverence for the craftsmanship process; which often falls by the wayside in fashion spheres. I hope our customers connect with the pieces in myriad ways- appreciating their humor and individuality, and also sparking associations with the universally recognizable items they depict, filling the showroom space with personal stories and laughter.
Looking forward, what new projects or explorations are you excited about, and how do you see your art evolving in response to global issues like environmental change or technological advancement?
Listening and responding to the pressing issues of our time is central to my practice. Though I am just a small link in a much larger chain, I’m driven to problem-solve, as well as emotionally process the heaviness of our times through art. Over the next year, I’ll deepen my “techno-rewilding” research, which may expand into poetry or material experimentation. Regardless of form, the bodily connection remains vital to my practice—so you can expect a distillation into jewelry to emerge sooner or later. I believe fostering grounding and personal body-object connections is the first step toward a cognitive shift needed to reimagine our relationship with consumption and the planet at large.