Artistar Jewels: Contemporary jewellery. Milan, 2018

Artistar Jewels, an event that gives an international and original perspective on the contemporary jewelry world, showing us the latest trends, took place in Milan, at Palazzo Giureconsulti, from the 22nd to the 25th of February. 

170 international designers from over 30 countries  participated in the 5th edition, showing more than 450 artworks, unique pieces or small series, selected according to their artistic value, technical testing e stylistic research.

Artistar Jewels was created by designer Enzo Carbone in 2012 and is an important event in the world of contemporary art. It unites architects, artists and journalists who promote the work of young Italian and foreign designers.

This event was born with the purpose of spreading the culture of modern adornment, anticipating global future trends. It is a unique contest in Italy, and one of the few in the world, that provides an original and cross interpretation of contemporary jewel artistry.

The pictures taken during the shooting organized by the Artistar Jewels team with the photographer Andrea Salpetre, which portray all the designers, were published in the 2018 Artistar volume. The book published by Logo Fausto Lupetti is available worldwide in all national and international bookstores. The volume will be sent to more than 5000 experts, including buyers, journalists, bloggers and jewelry galleries. The introduction is written by Eugenia Gadaleta, marketing & communication manager of Artistar Jewels and communication teacher, together with Mariastella Campi, fashion journalist.

Conceptual adornment,  an  important trend in jewelry art, is presented extensively, based not on visual pleasure, but on reflecting, thinking and intellectual efforts. It contains an inquiring function, through which a form of dialogue with the viewer is formed. Such jewels have a modern approach and are catalysts of reality, expressions of  active positions and ideas.

Extravagant and surreal Aliens ring by Russian jeweller Vlad Glynin represent, with a hint of irony, the great mystery in human beings. How many different personalities exist in us at the same time and wait for the right moment to come out? The human soul is a sort of ship for unusual beings, unknown, ready to manifest in the most unpredictable moments.

The jewellery by Stacey Huang, originally from Fujian, China, London based artist, exhibited pieces which are inspired by packaging. In today’s world of consumption, packaging has become an international language that people from different countries understand and use. Her designs echo the many signs of advertisment that we find in supermarkets. The aim is to invite people to rethink the value of fast-moving consumption by transforming these signs of commerce into fine jewellery.

In her works  Russian jeweller Sonia Zograbyan explores the possibilities of transforming traditional jewelry forms into  independent objects that interact with the human body. The idea of the DeVice Collection is the study of the clamps that captured  modern people: stress, complexes, inability to act, emotional blockage, social “immobility”, fixation on non-essential things. The jewelry has the form of objects that are fixed on the body using clamping and lever systems.

On February 23^rd the winners of the fifth edition of Artistar Jewels were announced. The jury who had the hard duty of selecting and awarding the best artists for technical ability, experimentation, originality and research was composed by Elisabetta Barracchia – Editor in chief of Condé Nast Mag Accessory, Maristella Campi – Fashion journalist, Gianni De Liguoro – co-founder and designer of the De Liguoro brand, Guido Solari – founder and owner of the Scuola Orafa Ambrosiana of Milano via Savona 20. With them, members of the jury from last year, three new entries: Astrid Berens – director of SIERAAD ART FAIR of Amsterdam, Dan Piersinaru – Founder and director of the contemporary jewelry magazine AUTOR and Irina Slesareva – director of Jewellery Review Magazine and creative director of the Russian Line Jewellery Contest.

The three winners were the Ukrainian designer and gemologist Stanislav Drokin, the Italian art director and renowned jeweller Tiziano Andorno and the Italian goldsmith and teacher at the milan jewellery  art school Rosamaria Venetucci. They will be able to join  Artistar Jewels 2019 free of charge and be part of the special contents of the 2019 book.

Furthermore, a special mention about  young English goldsmith Katy Tromans was  made by Enzo Carbone.

The Italian graphic and designer Angela Simone won free participation to the SIERAAD ART FAIR for this upcoming November in Amsterdam and Japanese Hiyu Hamasaki will be hosted by the contemporary jewelry fair Autor in Bucharest.

The designer Federica Portaccio has been chosen by Guido Solari, founder of the Scuola Orafa Ambrosiana of Milan via Savona 20, to take part in a Professional Goldsmithing course.

The September 2018 issue of Condé Nast Mag Accessory, new magazine of the Condé Nast group, will feature Elisabetta Barracchia’s interview with Spanish artist May Gañan.

More than 30  creations are the protagonists of a travelling exhibition in European galleries such as the gallery ICKX Contemporary Jewelry of Bruxelles and Eleni Marneri Gallery in Athens.

During the exhibition there will also be a special area with the creations from three main characters of the contemporary jewelry and art world: singer and conceptual artist, widow of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, the Belgian sculptor Pol Bury and the Parisian artist Faust Cardinali.

 

This event is a vivid example of the fact that the value of modern jewelry art is not represented by precious materials, but is a reflection of the spirit of the times; the times in which we live, work andtravel. There are a lot of unknown jewelers at the exhibition, but they all unite in the search for a new, bold and creative reproduction of reality.