CLUSTER JEWELLERY SHOP

JOURNAL

THE EXHIBITORS

Adornment Jewellery, a curatorial project dedicated to contemporary art jewellery provides a platform to showcase the contemporary jewellery field. Where did the inspiration come from to set up this platform and specialise in this medium?

It’s a long story. It all started with a great passion for and the study of the applied and decorative arts in Italy. After winning a grant from the Cariplo Foundation in 2015, this passion has become a specific research project in the field of jewellery studies, thus discovering how many meta- languages and layers of meaning the jewel encompasses today. In Italy this line of research, which I define as an artistic movement, is both poorly represented and understood. I believe it is due to the strength of tradition and the manufacturing culture in which we are immersed, which makes it difficult to avoid the immediate connection of the jewel to a mere plastic and decorative object.

The art of jewellery (I mean conceptual jewellery) is certainly one of the most interesting and significant contemporary artistic languages, which is why I decided to focus on it. With prior event organization at La Biennale di Venezia and Hauser & Wirth to name a few, we’d love to hear a few insights you gained from this experience?

My professional training more broadly consists of experiences of production of artistic and cultural projects, with a focus on innovation and the enhancement of heritage, both tangible and intangible. The Venice Biennale, and other important entities with which I have collaborated, such as Hauser & Wirth, were great schools in which I was lucky enough to work with major personalities from the world of international art and at the highest qualitative levels.

Recent years have seen a rise in the contemporary jewellery sector. What aspects in this field excite you and what would you like to see more of in this jewellery specialisation?

Yes, I believe that knowledge and awareness of the specificities of contemporary jewellery are increasing, albeit still in very limited forms and within very defined networks. My hope is that not only schools of design, but more and more art schools will recognize its status, not only as a decorative element, but as a new artistic language that opens up new paths of meaning and exploration. The strength of the conceptual jewel lies precisely in the fact that it lies on the borders of very different practices, such as fashion, design and art, thus generating a horizon of new semantic categories, with which one needs to develop familiarity and awareness of how to configure them in the future.

With contemporary jewellery being mainly concept driven along with an exploration of materiality, what tools / aspects in your opinion need to be displayed in order to increase awareness and understanding for such work?

An interesting question. I think this is one of the central points of reflection around contemporary jewellery today. Being a discipline that is at the crossroads of different types of knowledge, I think it will be essential to derive a specific media modality, a suitable expressive and communicative channel, of presentation. If we observe the phenomenon, digital tools are increasingly being used, especially this year and with greater momentum after our experience with the pandemic and the impossibility of creating opportunities for socialising. However, I do not think it is possible to ignore the physical and material appreciation of creations so connected to the body and the experience of wearability. Even in the case of conceptual creations, the sensory and spatial experience is often the key around which the expressiveness of the work revolves. It is therefore indispensable. Perhaps, precisely because of social distancing, it will have even more meaning and importance.

What do you look for when researching new artists in the field of jewellery? Is a strength in the concept or materiality an aspect you seek out?

It really depends on whether I’m doing research in general or if I have specific goals. I carry out two pivotal threads of research, but they are not the only ones, precisely because I believe that the jewel is a device capable of generating new formal and conceptual experiences. One is related to glass and the decorative arts. From this point of view I am attracted by the mastery and inventive ability that is handed down by tradition and reinvented in a contemporary key. The other is linked to an exhibition project called Nuda Vita which instead focuses on conceptual and experimental jewellery, in which the body is at the centre as a political and social element. In general, however, I would say that these are aspects that cannot be separated or excluded. And that’s a conceptual effort that we face if we want to better understand the jewel, learn to reason by applying new aesthetic categories, other than those of the past. Adornment Jewellery has previously formed collaborations with Vitaria Gallery and Atemporary Studio.

How did this support your platform? What advice would you offer jewellery designers looking to form collaborative projects with gallerists?

The strategy of bringing an increasingly large audience to contemporary jewellery was precisely to establish partnerships with organizations working in the field of design and art, but with no direct knowledge of the discipline. This has given rise to several new encounters and very exciting paths. As for galleries, I think that a relationship of trust and growth, of mutual investment, must be created between artist and gallery owner. It is important to find curators and gallery owners who are not only able to understand and advance the work, but above all who know how to lead it towards the future, who can act as a stimulus for the artist’s creativity.


What do you feel the future holds for the contemporary jewellery sector? Will we see a rise in international jewellery fairs?

It depends on which area of jewellery we are talking about. I don’t think traditional and commercial fairs are sustainable for contemporary and conceptual jewellery. They are complex operations typified by high costs. The events related to contemporary jewellery which are currently operating, whether they are exhibitions, fairs or diffused festivals, are characterized by a large component of self-production and self-financing, which is one of the characteristic features of this sector. There are no big sponsors unfortunately, is still a niche unable to attract large investments. Certainly it is necessary to formulate a new way, as we said before, of presentation. They will probably have to be medium - small size formats, highly curated and characterized by a focus on research and identity.

We’d love to hear what the future holds for Adornment Jewellery. Could you share some insights with us?

The near future holds two exciting exhibition projects, one on the occasion of Parcours Bijoux and the other for the New York City Jewelry Week. Certainly other projects will continue and grow over time, such as Nuda Vita and the collaboration with Vitraria Gallery, as soon as the situation permits. There will certainly also be some good news soon, but it can’t be revealed yet!