UCA student unveils endangered bird inspired collection

Céline Munisso, a student from University for the Creative Arts (UCA) has unveiled a jewellery collection inspired by endangered birds created to raise awareness of the threats they face from hunting and habitat loss.

‘Pay the bill’, a series of jewellery and objets d’art explores the theme of avicide, the killing of birds, through pieces that reflect both their beauty and vulnerability.

Munisso, who studied jewellery and silversmithing, drew particular inspiration from the rhinoceros hornbill, Malaysia’s national bird, which is hunted for its casque, feathers and
meat, and whose habitat is under threat from deforestation.

One of her works, Untuk Ho-ting, a Malaysian phrase meaning “for the casque”, features a bronze bird sculpture with a Tahitian baroque pearl in its belly, mounted on Anjan wood native to the hornbill’s habitat.

Munisso was awarded a Student Award 2025 by the Association of Contemporary Jewellery and won bronze in the 3D Craft Junior Modellers category at the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council’s Craft and Design Competition 2025.

She said her work aimed to prompt reflection: “Through aesthetic confrontation and education, I hope to encourage a re-evaluation of our role in birds’ survival and extinction.”