Unique Jewelry Designs from Around the World
Discovering unique local treasures is one of the many pleasures of travel. Brought home from overseas, handicrafts, implements, ethnic costumes can evoke memories of new cultures and happy times on vacation. For those who can’t get away right now, there’s a chance for one-stop global shopping at New York City’s Museum of Arts and Design. Curators have explored the world for unusual pieces of wearable art displaying unique technique and creativity. The artists have traveled with their work to New York City for a show — and sale — running all this week. Without packing a bag, browsers and shoppers can experience a round-the-world trip discovering investment-worthy souvenirs from many countries in the annual show: “Loot: MAD About Jewelry.”
Australia
Melbourne designer Jo Hawley integrates shape, form, line, and color in wearable explorations of interior versus exterior space.
Taiwan
Inspired by plants and insects from Taiwan, Ching-Chih Wu employs pliquea-journ, enameling, chasing, repousse, and patina in creating organic forms.
England
British jeweler Jed Green crafts one-of-a-kind pieces from silver, wood, pearls, and from lampblown glass which she paints inside the shapes.
Sweden
Stockholm is home base for German artist Thomas Raschke who has discovered that iron wire is an ideal material for creating filagree forms.
Scotland
In the Scottish highlands village of Plockton, Gilly Langton transforms elastic and silver into forms she find reminiscent of the local sea and shore.
Paris
In their Atelier Paulin, Anne-Sophie Baillet and Matthias Lavaux invite customers to chose words to be fashioned into handmade-on-demand metal “thread” bracelets and pins.
Vermont
Right up in Middlebury, Vermont, Danielle Gori-Montanelli transforms tactile felt into flowers, ruffs, bouquets of pencils.
Berlin
Berlin-based Alena Willroth traces pencil drawings to foil and uses a surgical knife, heat and pressure to create polyethylene lace.
France
Plant and marine life inspire silicone and fiber pieces by Paris-based Tzuri Gueta who studied in Tel Aviv.
Italy
Italian jeweler Myriam Bottazzi fashions smokey, sparkley, opaque cellulose acetate — simple — sequins (!) into ornaments inspired by nature.
Denmark
Working in Copenhagen, goldsmith-trained Gerda and Nikolai Monies create distinctive oversize acrylic and poly neckpieces.
Switzerland
Doris Berner puffs silk and microfiber into almost weightless necklaces and bracelets.
Colombia
The flight of birds and aerial landscapes inspire Bogata artist Nuria Carulla’s layered silver jewelry.
Venice
Versatile steel springs and aluminum express a modern Venetian spirit in the work of Adreina Brengola.
Ireland
Classically trained musician Genevieve Howard folds Japanese linen into three-dimensional forms that recreate music scores in her graphic notation.
Japan
Silver and aluminum are dynamically translated into themes expressing the softness, strength, and grace of organic forms forms by designer Tomoyo Hiraiwa.