Reimagining Local: Lori Hakim
Published on 13 June 2025
Mornington Peninsula contemporary jeweller, Lori Hakim is over the moon that her first solo exhibition, Undercurrent, is on display at her local venue, Frankston Arts Centre. Part of this year’s South Side Festival, the exhibition showcases her dazzling flare for abstract design while making a bold statement about human impact on local marine environments.
Lori was born in Frankston and grew up in Mount Eliza walking the beaches, frolicking in the water and soaking in the incredible diversity of the Peninsula’s natural environment. One issue consistently came to her attention, especially along the beaches - litter, particularly plastics.
In Undercurrent, Lori reclaims her beloved shorelines, repurposing the rubbish she has found along the coast of Port Phillip Bay/Bunurong Country, into colourful, sculptural, one of a kind pieces of jewellery and small sculpture. Like a bowerbird, Lori collects random objects that catch her eye. She has now curated them into an intriguing display of jewellery and small sculpture in her eye-catching solo exhibition.
Through meticulous crafting, Lori breathes new life into fragments of plastic waste, broken glass and forgotten toys. These environmental misfits re-join the world in a joyful reimagining. Undercurrent isn’t just about making beautiful objects from the flotsam and jetsam of our shorelines. It has a deeper message.
The exhibition is a clarion call to address the harm overconsumption and careless stewardship are causing to our marine environments. Lori hopes Undercurrent will start a serious conversation about protecting the natural beauty that makes Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula so unique.
While her jewellery has been a popular feature in the FAC foyer’s glass cases, this solo exhibition gives Lori the opportunity to spread her wings and showcase her sculpture too. The great thing about Lori’s jewellery is that every piece has its own distinct personality. No two pieces are ever exactly alike.
Making jewellery requires endless decision making and a constant quest for balance. Lori likes her work to be tactile, to feel substantial, but not too heavy to wear. ‘I like the work to have real feeling and presence,’ she says. Through trial and error, Lori discovers how far she can push each piece balancing beauty and wearability.
Like the bowerbird, what catches Lori’s eye most is colour. Whether it’s the stones she chooses, her brilliant enamelling hues or the repurposed plastic and broken glass she fashions, her inspiration comes from colour. She loves combining vintage tones she hopes are never forgotten.
Enamel work is uncommon in today’s jewellery market. It dates back to the 3rd century and was most popular in the Victorian and Art Nouveau eras. It had a resurgence in the 1960s with costume jewellery. Part of the reason it died out is because the process is very fussy and challenging, but for Lori, that’s part of the fun.
‘I like that I can experiment with enamel in modern ways. My approach is not traditional. For one of the pieces in the exhibition I have made my own enamel from beach glass that I crushed and fused to the surface of the metal making a long necklace,’ she says.
Bold design has always appealed to Lori though originally, it wasn’t jewellery she’d planned to design, but fashion. One of her favourite subjects at Padua College was Textiles so she went to RMIT to get a Diploma of Design and Technology in Fashion. Disenchanted with the fashion industry, Lori pivoted to a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Visual Arts majoring in Marketing and Jewellery at Monash University.
Her university work was mostly conceptual so she continued her studies learning necessary practical skills at Melbourne Polytechnic getting an Advanced Diploma in Jewellery and Object Design. ‘I realised when I went to Melbourne Poly that I could actually make a career as an artist,’ she says.
Lori had the opportunity to work alongside jewellers early in her career and worked at a contemporary jewellery gallery seeing all of the ways in which the 65 featured artists created jewellery. Now Lori is studying a Certificate in Training and Assessment at Chisholm so that she can pass her skills onto future generations. She’s keeping it southside.
Don’t miss the opportunity to see Lori’s work at Frankston Arts Centre until July 19. More info
ANDREA LOUISE THOMAS