E XCLUSI V E M AG A ZI N E FO R T H E J E W EL L ERY B USI N E SS I N T H E BA LT I C SE A R E G I O N
September 2018 (35)
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The pressure before the Ambermart is growing. Everyone has been feeling the results of clients from the Middle Kingdom trickling away as it was thanks to them that the industry experienced the biggest boom since the Jurassic Park’s time… As yet, there is no alternative client group, even though it was hoped that the clients from European countries and the United States, coming back together with the drop in amber prices, would fill that niche. The trade fair statistics show that there are more of them than there were during the Chinese amber boom, however it is still not enough to fulfil the needs of the producers – some of wishing to continue their sales success, others are simply hoping to survive. There also some hopes that the Russian or Arabic clients might be the answer. Will they come this time…? We can keep waiting. But it’s also possible to start acting – be open for changes, instead of waiting for a miracle to happen. Like in a popular motivational book by Spencer Johnson: when the accumulated stock of cheese runs out, we need to find supplies of new cheese. It is simpler than it may seem. And most of all, it’s inevitable.
Anna SADO
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aiting. For the last two years there has been mostly waiting. Will they come this time, or not? Will they place orders or only buy single products? Lately, if they bought something at all, they would buy only single items. And even then only on condition that it was possible to re-sell them, before they even bought them. The times are strange: there are huge fluctuations in amber prices, along side that professional wholesalers are disappearing, whose place is taken by more or less accidental sellers from internet selling platforms. There has also been a general decline in the interest in jewellery altogether, not to mention such jewellery as amber… For the last few years the amber world seems to be abiding by its own rules… It is more and more difficult to function in that world…
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AMBER TRIP RAW TRADE IS HERE AND ONLINE!
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September 2018 (35)
JEWELLERY TRENDS IN EASTERN EUROPE
XV INTERNATIONAL BALTIC JEWELLERY SHOW “AMBER TRIP”
INNOVATIVE AMBER THREADS IN CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY
THE REVIVAL OF THE ARTISTIC AMBER JEWELLERY IN LITHUANIA
GLAMOUR AND TOIL OF COLLECTION
CONTINUOUSLY SEARCHING FOR NEW MOUNTAINTOP
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Baltic Jewellery News / September 2018 (35) Manufakturu st. 16–7, LT-11342, LT-11342, Vilnius, Lithuania, Tel. +370 616 07 506; E-mail: office@balticjewellerynews.com Editor / Anna Sado / E-mail: info@balticjewellerynews.com Designer / SAVITAI, Translators / VERTIMU GURU, CIRCULATION 5 000 Distribution in the whole Baltic Sea Region. Copyright: Contents of “Baltic Jewellery News” are copyright. ISSN 2335-2132 Reproduction of material in part or in whole is not permitted in any form without the written authorization of the publisher. The editorial office is not responsible for the content of advertisements and for the accuracy of the facts presented by the authors.
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CONTENT /
MINING 10
A stash of a quadrillion tons of diamonds may be hiding deep inside earth
BUSINESS INSIGHTS 14 Jewellery trends in Eastern Europe 16 Jewellery in Germany 17 Jewellery in Poland 18 Constant dropping wears away a stone 22 19 th Ambermart tantalises with amber attractions 24 Jubinale 2018 30 Jewellery in Russia 32 Amber plant on the path of stable development 34 XV International Baltic Jewellery Show “Amber Trip” 39 Jewellery in Sweden 41 Jewellery in Ukraine
COLLECTIONS 68 72
Part spider, part scorpion creature found in amber Glamour and toil of collection
IAA JEWELLERY REPORT 79 84
Exhibition of Polish amber art jewellery for the first time on the list of China’s most interesting cultural events The IAA Gallery exhibitions
PERSONALITY 88
Continuously searching for new mountaintops
MARKET REVIEW 94 96 97 98 99
Kaliningrad Amber Factory prices Worldwide price of raw amber Silver prices Gold prices Major jewellery trade fairs
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ART JEWELLERY CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT
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Illusions in Legnica Sculpure, history and passion as a driving force Innovative amber threads in contemporary jewellery The revival of the artistic amber jewellery in Lithuania Jewellery requires patience Where leaves become jewellery V collection Gioielli In Fermento: Un Bel Panorama Obsession with heat
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ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS 42 44 46 48 54 58 60 62 66
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13. – 15. 9. 2018
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Endless switching Simple and creative. Consisting of a base and individually expandable filling rings, there are endless possibilities to create your personal favorite ring. The base ring is available in high-quality, nickel-free stainless steel in gold, silver, black or rose gold option, in the widths 0.8 cm to 1.6 cm. It is supplemented with filling rings made of different materials and colors. Sparkling zirconia stones, magical symbols or engraved life wisdom allow a new style every day, individually and suitable for every occasion. Retail sales price for rings as from Euro 50.00.
Simple and creative The iXXXi Jewelry concept, which can be displayed in a small area, not only promotes the fashion competence of the retailer. The desire to create new, unique creations, on the one hand, increases the frequency and return of regular customers, on the other hand, it offers the opportunity to win new, previously unreached customer groups. IXXXi Jewelry’s season-independent rings are instantly available and can be reordered at any time for optimal inventory management. With interesting margins and attractive retail prices, the collection of iXXXi Jewelry is a valuable addition to the footwear, fashion or leather goods trade. The iXXXi Jewelry range is rounded off by trendy necklaces, bracelets and stud earrings.
Endless switching & combining iXXXi Jewelry Your taste, your combination
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MINING /
A STASH OF A QUADRILLION TONS OF DIAMONDS MAY BE HIDING DEEP INSIDE EARTH By Yasemin SAPLAKOGLU, Staff Writer
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But these diamonds are unreachable: They're located about 90 to 150 miles (145 to 240 kilometers) below the surface of the Earth in the “roots” of cratons, which are large sections of rock. Cratons lie beneath most continental tectonic plates and have barely moved since ancient times, according to a statement from MIT News. A group of researchers from various universities around the world discovered the glitzy stash by
They found that the underground vibrations, produced from natural processes such as earthquakes and tsunamis, tended to speed up when passing through cratonic roots; the speedup was greater than would be expected from the fact that cratons tend to be colder and less dense than surrounding structures (both of which are conditions that would speed up the waves). Using records of seismic activity that were kept by government agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, the team created a three-dimensional model of the velocities of seismic waves that traveled through the planet's major cratons. Then, they created “virtual rocks” from various combinations of different minerals and calculated how fast seismic waveswould travel through those rock compositions.
Diamonds might not be so special.
A new study suggests that Earth's interior is filled with a quadrillion tons of diamonds.
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When “waves pass through the Earth, diamonds will transmit them faster than other rocks or minerals that are less stiff,” said Joshua Garber, a postdoctoral student at UC Santa Barbara and lead author of the study. Though “we found that much of the data were best explained by diamond… we cannot say for certain,” Garber said. Since it's difficult to directly sample these regions (but not impossible, since sometimes parts of these cratonic roots are brought to the surface from erupting magma), this is the best explanation right now, Garber said. But other researchers have suggested some alternative explanations: Perhaps, these cratonic rocks are cooler than what the literature suggests, which means the rock will be stiffer — and thus, seismic waves will travel more quickly through them — even without the diamond or eclogite rocks, Garber added. However, based on their data, he thinks this latter scenario is less likely. “Our understanding of the deep Earth continues to improve as we make more measurements, do more experiments and occasionally get samples,” Garber said. “I suspect we will continue to be surprised by what we find.” ■
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new study published in June in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems suggests that there are 1,000 times more diamonds below the surface of the Earth than was previously thought.
They found that the best explanation for the speeds actually observed underground versus those predicted in their virtual rock models was that 1 to 2 percent of the roots of the cratons was made up of diamonds, while the rest was made up of peridotite (the main type of rock in Earth's upper mantle) and a little bit of eclogite rocks (from the ocean's crust).
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looking at seismic waves beneath the Earth. Because these vibrations can change, based on the composition, temperature and density of various rocks that it hits, researchers can use these recordings to construct an image of the unreachable interior of the Earth.
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That special mineral that humans use to profess their love for one another? It might not be so special. A new study suggests that Earth's interior is filled with a quadrillion tons of diamonds.
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / EASTERN EUROPE JEWELLERY REPORT
JEWELLERY TRENDS in EASTERN EUROPE
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By Nadejda KREČ, Analyst at Euromonitor International
JEWELLERY MARKET POSTS INCREASING GROWTH IN 2018 According to Euromonitor International data, value sales of jewellery in Eastern Europe are set to record growth of 6 %, to reach total sales of USD8.2 billion in 2018. This represents only 2 % of global jewellery sales and ranks Eastern Europe sixth out of seven regions worldwide in total value terms. Custom jewellery, by far the largest product area in volume terms, accounts for 22 % of total jewellery value sales in Eastern Europe, while fine jewellery accounts for 78 % of total value sales. MILLENNIAL MANIA: THE NEW JEWELLERY SHOPPER Millennials are – now more than ever – shaping the face of the jewellery industry in 2018. They are more likely to influence and be influenced by new trends because of our society’s ever present desire to be “in-the-know” and on top. While previous generations purchased things to connote status, millennials care more about self-expression, preferring to align themselves with a brand or style they feel that represents them. Moreover, the challenge is appealing to this younger consumer group, a group which has disposable income but is not necessarily buying status in the same way brands have traditionally depended on. Millennials are more concerned with expressing individuality. It is also important to highlight the rise of female selfpurchasers. As women continue to make gains in the labour force, the self-purchase trend offers one of the clearest opportunities for future growth in the jewellery market. Having a selection of fine jewellery which appeals to women looking to celebrate personal achievement or buying something special to reward themselves, should become as much a focus for jewellers as bridal and other similar occasion-related jewellery. CUSTOMISATION AND AUTHENTICITY The jewellery market is rapidly shifting towards strong emphasis on customised and personalised jewellery. More jewellery consumers seek pieces that are more than just an accessory – they want the item to reflect their identity, or at
least they want to buy something that reflects the lifestyle they aspire to. Importantly, consumers are looking for companies and brands that are willing to be flexible with their products and promote customisation options. Moreover, identity and authenticity are important themes for many European consumers. Customisation was first evident in brands like Pandora. The idea of jewellery customisation is to let the consumer choose from different designs, colours and metals, or materials, in order to create a unique, self-designed piece. IMPORTANCE OF INTERNET RETAILING Consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable buying expensive jewellery and timepieces online. And this new reality is set to reshape the jewellery retail landscape. All the major brands and most minor ones now have attractive, professional web shops or e-boutiques. Social media presence and mobile compatibility are a must, too. For example, Bulgari’s Instagram campaigns, as well as Tiffany & Co.’s Instagram activities are vital in maintaining high visibility. On Cartier’s Facebook page, a typical post can generate several million “likes”. Also important is a good mix of online and offline activities. Brands such as Tiffany & Co or Swarovski are highly successful in combining high online visibility with a strong presence in shops, outlets and department stores, at airports, malls and exhibitions. The internet and its many web shops and review sites make it easy for consumers to compare products, prices, designs and service levels, but also product origins. CELEBRITY IMPACT ON CONSUMER PURCHASING DECISIONS Another aspect of the jewellery market in 2018 is the impact that celebrity endorsements have on consumer purchasing. With the growing importance of social media in consumer purchases, celebrity endorsements are increasingly important. With celebrities vouching for or promoting their products, brand awareness, trust and familiarity increase. Consumers feel attracted towards a brand if their products are promoted by a celebrity
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they admire or relate to. Therefore, brands are taking advantage of this by utilising the social media communities of celebrities. However, while celebrity endorsements certainly help to attract consumers, its direct influence on the consumers’ purchasing decisions are indecisive. This is mainly due to the fact that celebrities do enhance consumers’ confidence in and preference for a products rather than have a direct impact on their purchasing decision. As consumers have faster access to information, blind faith in celebrity endorsement is fading. They will be attracted to a brand because of a celebrity but they will quickly move away if the product itself is disappointing. It is the quality of a jeweller’s product that will keep consumers coming back, not a celebrity link. EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN THE JEWELLERY INDUSTRY IN EASTERN EUROPE According to Euromonitor International data, Eastern Europe is expected to be ranked third among the seven regions over the next five years, with the highest growth (2 % CAGR, at constant 2017 prices). Gradual economic recovery in the largest Eastern European countries, such as Poland, Romania, and Ukraine will drive regional sales. Moreover, the development of the jewellery market will benefit from growing consumer confidence and levels of disposable income. The rise of the internet as a research tool, particularly for price comparability, and also as a purchasing channel, is expected to drive sales. Consumers are becoming more comfortable shopping online, which will spur growth of jewellery sales. Strategies such as personalisation and celebrity endorsement will stimulate regional sales growth further. In today’s volatile economy, jewellery brands need to regularly seek opportunities to grow their product offerings and provide higher value for money to keep their revenue growth positive. More retailers which are present with physical stores are expected to develop an omni-channel distribution strategy, generating a greater convergence between sales offered through their stores and through web-shops. Increasingly, jewellery brands and luxury players need a strong online presence to support the growth of their business. Social media platforms and online retailing channels should go hand-in-hand in developing a comprehensive shopping experience that equals, as far as possible, the luxury experience when purchasing a product from the physical store. Given shifting online dynamics, it is no longer a question whether both jewellery brands and luxury players should pursue online retailing. It is an action that needs to be taken so as not to be cannibalised by other brands. ■
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BUSINESS INSIGHTS / GERMAN JEWELLERY REPORT
JEWELLERY in GERMANY PROSPECTS
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THE TREND TOWARDS MORE EXPENSIVE PRODUCTS DRIVES THE GROWTH OF FINE JEWELLERY Against the backdrop of a favourable economic climate and high consumer confidence, it is noticeable that Germans are increasingly willing to spend more on fine jewellery. Of particular interest are precious materials, including gold, platinum and diamonds in the form of rings and neckwear, with silver losing slight share in 2018. COSTUME JEWELLERY BENEFITS FROM RAPIDLY CHANGING FASHION TRENDS Given that fine jewellery is expected to remain the main beneficiary of the trend towards more expensive jewellery in the coming years, costume jewellery will face lower popularity as a result, particularly amongst younger people, who are becoming more interested in affordable luxury products. However, costume jewellery will offset this negative impact and record value growth at constant 2018 prices over the forecast period, due to the increasing importance of costume jewellery in lifestyle and fashion trends. INTERNET RETAILING BECOMES INCREASINGLY RELEVANT, EVEN IN FINE JEWELLERY In Germany, jewellery and watch specialist retailers is in a particularly strong position in the distribution of jewellery, due to the emotional experience such outlets offer, the individual service and advice given, and the possibility to try out products and see the materials and quality, which is especially important for luxury items. Yet the distribution landscape for jewellery is changing, as the typical structure of small specialist retailers is witnessing increasing pressure.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE PANDORA EXPANDS ITS LEAD AMIDST THE INCREASING CONSUMER FOCUS ON FINE JEWELLERY In 2017, Pandora Jewelry strengthened its lead in jewellery in the German market. Here, the brand benefited from its broad range of charms, bracelets and rings positioned within the affordable luxury segment of fine jewellery.
CHRIST ATTRACTS CONSUMERS WITH A NEW STORE CONCEPT AND MULTI-CHANNEL APPROACH In 2017, jewellery and watch specialist retailer Christ introduced a new store concept and improved its multi-channel approach by further connecting its retail stores and online shop. The new store concept focuses on providing an extraordinary store experience through digital information and shopping elements, as well as augmented reality mirrors that allow customers to virtually try on products. BIJOU BRIGITTE FACES PRESSURE FROM DECLINING FOOTFALL IN INNER CITIES In 2017, the downwards trend for costume jewellery retailer Bijou Brigitte reflected the ongoing market dynamics within jewellery in Germany. On the one hand, this development provides evidence for the general trend away from costume jewellery towards fine jewellery, whilst on the other hand it also shows that stores are being frequented less due to overall declining footfall in inner cities, as internet retailing continues to grow. ■
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BUSINESS INSIGHTS / POLISH JEWELLERY REPORT
PROSPECTS
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
THE NUMBER OF AFFLUENT POLES IS CONSTANTLY GROWING Sales of jewellery are steadily rising every year in Poland. This is because the category is still not fully saturated.
JEWELLERY REMAINS DOMINATED BY LOCAL PLAYERS, WITH APART CONTINUING TO LEAD Jewellery in Poland has been led by three local players for years. The largest in 2017 was Apart, followed by YES Bizuteria and Vistula Group, which had significantly lower value shares.
JEWELLERY FOLLOWS GLOBAL FASHION TRENDS Jewellery has become part of the fashion world. Consumers already know that trends in jewellery and accessories follow fashion trends and can change dynamically. THE FORECAST FOR JEWELLERY REMAINS VERY OPTIMISTIC The forecast for the Polish economy for the coming years is very good. The rising wealth in society and consumers’ growing aspirations will fuel further growth in jewellery.
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DOMESTIC PLAYERS TARGET ALL CONSUMERS, BUT MIDDLE-INCOME IS THE KEY SEGMENT Polish domestic companies try to compete for each consumer group, but they focus primarily on the broadly understood middle-income group. This is mainly because their prestige is not comparable to global luxury brands such as Cartier, Tiffany or Prada. SPECIALISTS IN SHOPPING CENTRES REMAIN THE MAIN DISTRIBUTORS Specialists in prestigious locations in city centres and wellknown shopping centres remain the main channels for jewellery distribution. Glazed, well-lit and spacious lounges encourage potential customers to stop and look and shop on impulse. ■
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JEWELLERY in POLAND
CONSTANT DROPPING WEARS AWAY A STONE Interview with Adam PSTRÄ„GOWSKI. By Anna SADO
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / POLISH JEWELLERY REPORT
What is the proportion of the amber jewellery to non-amber jewellery? Currently over 50 % of the products is jewellery with coloured stones that we cut in to a similar shape to amber. There is a large group of clients interested in this kind of jewellery and we take make sure that we surprise them with new, attractive collections. In the case of amber jewellery collections, the effect
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One of S&A’s competitive advantages is design. The highest level of design has been ensured by Studio Projektowe S&A (S&A Design Studio), which currently cooperates in various form with 6 people: Sławomir Fijałkowski, Cyprian Chorociej, Ireneusz Glaza, Stanisław Pietrek, Marta Hryc i Małgorzata Szewczyk. In the last 25 years the Studio has cooperated with merely 20 designers. I am very proud of the fact that from many of those who ⊲
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Both brands that you mentioned are unique in their own way. What makes S&A unique? S&A is recognisable in the world as an amber jewellery brand, however amber is a some kind of a limitation. This is why we have decided to extend our product range – for the last few years we have been also active in the sector of silver jewellery with other jewellery stones. It is a brand that has its own group of clients and fills the niche for functional design that has been observable on the market. By functional design I understand the kind of jewellery that is suitable for many different occasions, fashionable, practical and outstanding thanks to its distinctive style. Our clients – those form Europe, Asia as well as the ones from the USA or the Near East countries – always emphasise that the jewellery by S&A has its own style and that makes it recognisable. We use this invaluable capital and build our position on it.
of constant surprise would be rather impossible to achieve – at the end of the day even the biggest fan of amber jewellery will not keep buying it forever. That’s why S&A doesn’t want to stick to amber exclusively: we are following our own path, extending our collections by adding other, unusual, and surprising combinations of materials. This is the mission of S&A. I know from experience that there’s always going to be a client for an unusual product on condition that it is of high level in terms of design and quality. Recently many clients have “come back” to us. They are the clients for whom our products had been too expensive before, but they have realised that the quality of the product, design and service must cost a certain amount. Quality and design are our tested patent for building stability and recognisability of the brand. Thanks to that we have attracted clients from different parts of the world – from different cultural backgrounds, with different aesthetic tastes who want to cooperate with us. We now have a network of shops in China, we are focused on the development in the Baltic Sea basin and in the places frequently visited by tourists, such as Prague, Vienna, Munich or Cologne. Soon, the S&A brand will be present in France, we are already present in the Arabic countries, negotiations on the American market are also underway – this market is the most difficult one, but we are aiming to achieve our goals within a decade. Constant dropping wears away a stone.
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S&A is a Polish jewellery producer who have been consciously and consistently building their brand in Poland as well as abroad. Building a brand is planned, thoughtthrough and consistently implemented action. S&A is not Pandora, who had a gigantic budget for marketing and promotion at their disposal, therefore we follow the Swarovski’s example, who built their brand gradually, step by step over the period of 125 years. I believe that when S&A is 125 years old, we will be talked about in the same way that today Swarovski is.
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How much time does it take to build a recognisable jewellery brand? Is 25 years long enough, too short after all? Adam PSTRĄGOWSKI, the chairman and founder of the S&A S.A. – the biggest Polish producer of amber jewellery, maintains that it is not only time that matters, but most of all effective distinguishing features and persistence in the pursuit of one’s aims.
Which stage of building the brand is S&A at the moment? We have started, we are running in a peloton, you can see our T-shirt, but it’s not even half the distance yet. After 25 years, not even half the distance? If we had started with a minimum of a million Euro for marketing, like Pandora, we would probably be very close to the end. However, we can only continue consistently building our position of a company that we have been doing for years. It has been very important to me that we achieve the acceptance of the industry – to convince them that S&A is worth cooperating with, as we play fair and we care about the success of the entire industry, not only our own. Plus, we have made a significant contribution in setting trends in design and promoting the Polish amber industry in the world. Only having achieved that did we take next steps on the way to reaching our goal that is building the
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position of a solid jewellery producer with a recognisable brand. What is the biggest danger for the realisation of the plan? Other companies. And I’m not talking about competition here, as competition only motivates us to make more effort. The problem are the companies whose goal is to make money quickly, which in turn destroys the market. They ruin in this way the prospects of development for many companies who concentrate on quality, design and proper sales service – however, only this conscious and responsible approach to business can ensure that people have jobs and that the entire industry can develop. All myopic actions destroy chances for development. We should follow the example of the Scottish whiskey that is famous all over the world. There are more of them than there are amber producers in Pomerania: they cooperate and don’t let the prices to go down, because they understand that the consequences would be fatal for all of them. They know realise that success is only possible if the whole group works on quality and product identity. Thanks to that Scottish whisky is famous all over the world. And why are the amber products from the Baltic Sea basin region the best? Because they have been produced by experts – the people with passion, who have been dealing with amber processing for generations and are masters of it. We are learning from the Scotts – after all, they have a
ready recipe for success! All it takes is to join our forces to promote amber and build a strong brand of amber jewellery all over the world. If only consolidation were so easy, it would have long been the case… Consolidation of companies under one logo, coordinated action and joint promotion is an ideal, though difficult, solution for the amber industry. What’s more, in such a consolidated group everyone could have a specialization: for some it would be moulding, for others galvanic coating, and so on, and the producers would benefit from combined services. I believe that it is only the matter of time and companies will be ready to consolidate and specialize, and that is the future of the Polish jewellery industry. By joining forces – and adding the great Polish design to that – as an industry we have significant chances to be a permanent part of the jewellery map of Europe. ■
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have left S&A and work on their own, are popular names today: Daria Jankowiak, Izabela Gutowska, Krzysztof Bondaruk or the Chilli brand. Studio Projektowe attracts the people who want to develop together with the company and at the same time build their own success. S&A doesn’t promote solely its own brand, but also the names of its designers. As the owner of the company, I do my best to give the designers the maximum of creative freedom because it’s really important to me that they are proud of their work. Of course, some limitations to their freedom are posed by market requirements – each designer has access to sales analyses and trends, that is all data necessary to create ideal design. At the moment Studio Projektowe is working on the collection made of silver and for the first time without any stones – in this way we want to relate to the tradition of Polish goldsmithery art, but the design will be in accordance with the DNA of the S&A jewellery design brand, of course. I’m not worried about the results: the designers know who they are designing for, they are putting all their hearts and lots of positive energy in their work – in this situation the jewellery will always find a loyal customer.
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BUSINESS INSIGHTS / POLISH JEWELLERY REPORT
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / POLISH JEWELLERY REPORT
AMBER LOOK Trends & Styles 2018 Jewellery by CHILLI Ireneusz Glaza
19th AMBERMART TANTALISES WITH AMBER ATTRACTIONS
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Fashion by Agnieszka Światły
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Photo by Mateusz Ochocki KFP
The AMBERMART autumn/fall amber show brings together business, popular science, education and fun—this is why it is immensely compelling to all amber fans. This year, the event will be held in Gdańsk, Poland, for the 19th time, on 6–8 September. AMBER COLLECTIONS, MODERN DESIGN AMBERMART opens the autumn/ fall exhibition season, allowing international buyers to re-stock after the summer, mainly with a view to the December holiday sales peak. The show’s product range covers silver and gold jewellery with amber, amber jewellery and decorative items, coloured gemstones, souvenirs and functional art. “AMBERMART is a perfect time to showcase new products. Even now, our customers are enquiring about the new collections we have for the coming show. Our latest pieces were a hit with our customers, which is why it is with pleasure that we create new amber designs so that they can be just as well received,” says Marcin Wesołowski of NAC Amber, which specialises is classically timeless amber jewellery.
This year’s, 19 th edition, will have 200 Polish and international exhibitors. As last year, the organiser expects ca. 3000 visitors from 50 countries. Although, after years of an amber boom, we are now experiencing the expected drop in raw amber prices and a resulting market reshuffle, AMBERMART Project Director Ewa Rachoń is of the opinion that this situation should not affect buyer turnout. “I believe that AMBERMART will once again prove how crucial personal communication is in this business: amber stones can differ greatly from one another so the purchase process, especially in the case of natural stones, requires personal involvement from buyers,” she explains. The market situation requires a more hands-on approach from manufacturers than before: a decreased interest in amber products in China has forced them to look for new markets—they have now focused their attention mainly on the demanding markets in Europe and America. To meet the requirements of these customers, the manufacturers’ product range now includes, more than before, lightweight designs which follow the latest trends in jewellery fashion, made in state-of-the-art
techniques. Invariably, many of these products are hand-made precious metal items with selected amber stones in the most desirable colours: yellow and white. What products the manufacturers have prepared for autumn/fall and winter for customers all over the world—we will find out all this and more at the coming edition of AMBERMART. AND MARIACKA STREET WILL GO DANCING— AMBERMART will culminate in a get-together in Mariacka Street— considered the prettiest street of Gdańsk and known as the Amber Fifth Avenue—this time with the motto: Mariacka Street Goes Dancing. Join the organisers—the MTG SA Gdańsk International Fair Co. and the International Amber Association— in dancing to the music from various parts of the world! There will be flamenco, Argentine tango, jazz and much, much more music to listen and dance to. “Don’t hurry back home, come dance with us,” Ewa Rachoń says encouragingly. ■ Dates: 6–7 Sep, 10:00–18:00 | 8 Sep, 10:00–16:00 Venue: AMBEREXPO Exhibition & Convention Centre, Żaglowa 11, Gdańsk, Poland
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19th INTERNATIONAL AMBER FAIR
6-8.09.2018 Gdańsk, Poland ambermart.pl
amberif 26. International Fair of Amber, Jewellery and Gemstones 20–23.03.2019 amberif.pl
fashion Yan Novac | jewellery Danka Czapnik organizer
venue
Gdańsk International Fair Co.
amberif@mtgsa.com.pl t. +4858 554 91 34
Exhibition & Convention Center
ul. Żaglowa 11 80-560 Gdańsk amberexpo.pl
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / POLISH JEWELLERY REPORT
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2018 On 7–9th of June 2018, the 11th edition of the International Summer Jewelery and Watches Trade Fair JUBINALE took place in Krakow. A wide range of jewelery and watches trends were presented to the international audience by over 200 exhibitors from 12 countries: Poland, Lithuania, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, China, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Estonia, Croatia, Germany and Austria.
For
the first time during this year’s edition of JUBINALE there was held an analogue exhibition of gifts and decorations – GiftON.top. The combination of the jewelery and gift industry in one place and at one time gave all buyers who came to EXPO Kraków the opportunity to meet new and permanent business partners, learn about new opportunities and take advantage of the best industry offers. Thanks to this new initiative, the available variety of goods allowed buyers to buy unique items, and often initiated the decision to widen the range in the store. JUBINALE is directed mainly to a highly profiled group of customers – owners of stationary stores, on-line shoips, galleries, producers, importers, wholesalers and distributors as well as sales representatives, ie. people professionally associated with the industry. Carefully prepared exhibitors’ offers ensured guests a wide range of products from all sectors of the industry. In addition to the jewelry and watch collections, packaging, tools and machines, services and technological solutions for the industry were also presented. Every day, representatives of the most important Polish trade associations and organizations, such as the Association of Jewelery Experts, the International Amber Association and the Polish Craft Association, all served in professional conversations and advice. This year’s edition of the fair was also enriched by exhibitions of jewelery art, such as the exhibition “In my opinion …”, works presented by the Art Gallery in Legnica, exhibition “Treasures of the earth” and a series of free lectures, thematically addressed to both buyers and companies exhibiting on the Expo. All days of the fair were spent in an atmosphere of hard work and exchange of experience. There were plenty of inspirations, new products, unique offers and technological innovations. Participants from various corners of the world who came to Krakow to get acquainted with the international offer, had the opportunity to stock up on the most interesting products – not only those for the upcoming season, but also those that are timeless. The combination of the jewelery industry with the gift and decoration industry turned out to be an exceptionally beneficial initiative – it is already known today that the next edition of JUBINALE will take place in the company of GiftON.top. We hope that the contacts established in Krakow will pay off for a long time. We would like to invite you to the next edition of the fair, which will take place on 13–15.06.2019. ■
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www.aimdisplay.com.pl
AIM DISPLAY POLISH MANUFACTURER OF DISPLAYS, ETUI, BUSTS AND TRAYS FOR EXPOSITION, SALES AND STORAGE OF JEWELLERY PL
ul. Taborowa 24, 02-699 Warszawa, Poland, T/F: +48 226449815
v
www.aimdisplay.com.pl
v
aimdisplay@aimdisplay.com.pl
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / RUSSIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
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JEWELLERY in RUSSIA
PROSPECTS
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR INTERNET RETAILING Internet retailing saw strong retail current value sales growth in 2018, especially in fine jewellery. The number of jewellery companies offering online sales increased, since they realised the importance of marketing their products via the internet.
DOMESTIC PLAYERS LEAD THE WAY Domestic players continued to dominate jewellery in 2017, with only limited room left for international operators. This is explained by the deep-rooted tradition of jewellery production in Russia, which underpins the confidence of consumers in domestic jewellery, alongside reasonable unit prices.
REVIVAL OF DIAMOND FINE JEWELLERY BUT SUPPLY OF SILVER FINE JEWELLERY IS SATURATED At the end of the review period, there was a rebound in retail value sales and share growth of diamond fine jewellery. This may be explained by the deferred demand for diamond jewellery. NEW LABELLING TO COUNTER ILLICIT TRADE IN FINE JEWELLERY In Russia, fine jewellery is to be labelled according to a new scheme from summer 2018. A QR code on the labels of jewellery items made from precious metals and precious stones will help consumers to verify their authenticity before purchasing.
NEW BRANDS ENTER THE FRAY The UK jewellery brand LAV’Z opened its first two stores in Russia at the beginning of 2018. The brand’s designs are intended to make every piece of jewellery unique, underpinned by personalisation and customisation. CELEBRITIES ENDORSE JEWELLERY BRANDS A number of brands used celebrities and fashion leaders to advertise their jewellery products on social media at the end of the review period. In 2018, Swarovski made American super model Karlie Kloss its brand ambassador, while the Russian singer Pelageya filled the same role for Adamas from the end of 2017. ■
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BUSINESS INSIGHTS / RUSSIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
AMBER PLANT ON THE PATH OF STABLE DEVELOPMENT Mikhail ZATSEPIN, the CEO of the Kaliningrad Amber Plant
The
Kaliningrad Amber Plant presented the operational results for the last five years. In Russia, it is the only enterprise engaged in the industrial amber mining. In 2017 the plant extracted the record 453 tons of the raw material. For comparison, in 2013 this figure amounted to 275 tons, and in 2016 – to 315 tons of amber. Tax deductions also increased significantly. “When I first entered the plant, what I saw was not very encouraging”, says Mikhail Zatsepin, the CEO of the Kaliningrad Amber Plant, who has been running the company for exactly five years. The area looked like the post-war Stalingrad. The quarry, too, was a rather sad sight. For many years, preparatory cleaning work was not carried out, which means that the rocks covering the amber layer of the earth were not removed. As a result, getting to the “sunstone” was extremely difficult. Moreover, the plant was running out of the license for amber extraction. This catastrophic situation had to be corrected. In parallel, it was necessary to solve the critical task of privatising the Amber Plant, as determined by the federal authorities. At the same time, the plant could not be prouder of the employees of the enterprise – geologists, mine surveyors, supervisors, miners. These are professionals who still work in the plant. “The team saw that the management of the plant was aimed at the development, and the tasks began to be solved as quickly and as qualitatively as possible”, Mikhail Zatsepin continues. In 2015, the Kaliningrad Amber Plant became a public company; the State Corporation Rostek owns one hundred per cent of its shares. Since 2016, having overcome technological mistakes
of the past years, we began to increase production volumes. In the current year, the enterprise should also reach the target of 450 tons of amber. The plant is overfulfilling the production plan so far. We changed the work schedule: now the operation services work in an enhanced shift mode. This innovation also allowed to increase production volumes. Fundamental changes have also been made in the sales system. Five years ago, the price of amber dispatched from the enterprise was several times below the market price. It was not advisable to develop production under such conditions. And there was no money for it: the income was barely enough to cover salaries and routine repairs. “Thanks to the Board of Directors and the Expert Council, the strategy of the Amber Plant, the sales and marketing policy, the amber classifier were developed, the principles of exchange and auction trading were laid down”, continues Mikhail Zatsepin. “These key documents and decisions allowed introducing market mechanisms. Now, amber is sold on a daily basis through electronic trading. As the main trading platform, we chose the stock exchange of St. Petersburg. Also, several times a year, auctions are held for processors”. The operation results of the enterprise show that the path chosen five years ago to improve production efficiency, ensure better working conditions and create a positive image of the Amber Plant allows for steady development and looking forward to the future with confidence. ■
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Kaliningrad Amber Factory. Established in 1947. The only enterprise in the world that produces the 50-million-year-old Baltic amber. Your reliable partner for over 65 years.
www.ambercombine.ru 238508 Russia, Kaliningradskaya oblast, Yantarniy Poselok, Balebina str. 1. tel: +7 (4012) 31 08 55 e-mail: mail@ambercombine.ru
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / LITHUANIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
XV INTERNATIONAL BALTIC JEWELLERY SHOW “AMBER TRIP”
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This year Lithuania is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the restoration of statehood. Amber Trip International Baltic jewellery show also celebrated an anniversary, hosting the exhibition for already the 15th time.
This
year Amber Trip, which took place on 14–17 March at Litexpo – the largest Congress and Exhibition Centre in the Baltic States, attracted special attention not only due to the annual international Art Jewellery Contest, but also the Author Jewellery Zone, which was organised for the first time. The Art Jewellery Contest, called “Nothing to Declare” was inspired by the 100 th anniversary of the
restoration of Lithuanian statehood. The international contest was participated by more than 100 artists from Lithuania, Peru, Iran, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Russia and Great Britain. The Author Jewellery Zone featured 22 jewellers from Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Israel and Spain, introducing their works and latest jewellery tendencies. “The jewellery art contests, hosted during the Amber Trip in recent
years are currently on the rise and we can truly be proud of this. The international Art Jewellery Contest for its participants is like the Olympics for sportsmen. It gives the artists an opportunity to show their works and be appreciated.” said Jurgita Grajauskaitė-Ludavičienė, Art Critic and Jury Member at the “Nothing to Declare” contest. There were nominations in six categories. After the contest the
General Director of the “Kaliningrad Amber Combine” Mikhail ZATSEPIN and organizer of “Amber Trip” Giedrius GUNTORIUS
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Grand Prix – Isabel Tristán OCHOA (Spain) – “Just Now”
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China, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, the USA and other countries. Giedrius Guntorius, organiser of the show, says that this year the exhibition exclusively featured clusters and other groups of Lithuania, Polish, Ukrainian and Chinese business companies, which picked Amber Trip as an important trade and information platform to conquer the market and introduce their goals. ⊲
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SOLID PARTICIPANTS AND BUYERS This year the international 15th anniversary show, which attracted 200 of the major representatives of jewellery and amber art (professional jewellers and designers, production organisers and practitioners,
representatives of jewellery industry, as well as producers of technical equipment) to Vilnius from all over the world. Works of jewellery were presented by artists from the Baltic States, Poland, Turkey, Italy, Ukraine, Russia, the USA, India and other states. Amber Trip show was attended by more than 500 VIP buyers (wholesalers, museums and collectors) from Europe, Australia,
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works of the participants will be introduced at various jewellery shows in Europe, including Legnica Jewellery Festival.
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / LITHUANIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
⊳ Lithuanian amber jewellery producers aiming to promote amber and its export in foreign markets introduce their products with the Amber Made in Lithuania brand. UNIQUE EXHIBITS AND EVENTS The visitors of the Amber Trip show had a unique opportunity to see the Lava Drops musical instruments, made by the designer and musician Rapolas Gražys. One of them is especially valuable: The Black Amber Drop – the only guitar in the world, made of black amber, introduced at eight global music innovation and jewellery shows.
Just like every year, the international exhibition featured numerous seminars and meetings, where representatives of various countries discussed trending issues of jewellery and amber industry. One of the events was dedicated to cooperation between Lithuania and Belarus in the field of hallmarks and jewellery trade. This year the area of the 15th International Baltic jewellery show took up approximately 3.8 thousand sq. m (compared to last year's 2.5 thousand sq. m). ■
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Technology “NIC MYSL”
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AMBER TILES FOR WALL DECORATIONS J. Janonio g. 7, Klaipeda, Lithuania (EU) Phone +370 605 55016 E-mail info@ambertiles.eu www.ambertiles.eu
HOW TO PURCHASE: If you wish to set up an amber room or create a unique element from natural amber – fill the request form on the website www.ambertiles.eu or please send us the request by e-mail: info@ambertiles.eu. You will receive your amber tiles order in no more than 20 business days (after invoice payment) to any corner of the world.
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / SWEDISH JEWELLERY REPORT
PROSPECTS
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
BRANDED LUXURY JEWELLERY ON THE RISE The trend towards luxury branded jewellery is expected to continue over the coming years. The only concern is the long term impact on small retailers, especially in Stockholm, where the concentration of high end retailers is greater.
DIFFERENCE IN COMPETITIVE OUTLOOK FOR COSTUME AND FINE JEWELLERY The competitive landscape is varied for costume and fine jewellery. Costume jewellery is more segmented, with Glitter and H&M leading sales.
SWEDISH MALES BECOMING MORE INTERESTED IN JEWELLERY With the trend towards personalisation since the early 2010s, men are embracing accessories. This is particularly evident for costume wristbands and necklaces, which contain less precious metal.
PRICES FALL AS COMPETITION INCREASES IN COSTUME JEWELLERY Costume jewellery struggled in 2018, partly due to pressure on margins as a result of competition from fast fashion retailers such as Indiska. A more concerning development within costume jewellery is the decline of Glitter, which indicates that increased competition from internet retailers had a negative impact on value growth in 2017.
IMPACT OF PRECIOUS METAL PRICES ON JEWELLERY Swedish consumers purchased more silver jewellery over the review period, although gold continues to lead sales. This trend can be attributed to rising prices, particularly of gold in 2010.
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STORES REMAIN KEY TO JEWELLERY SALES While internet retailing sales are steadily increasing within fine jewellery, traditional stores continue to dominate sales. This can be attributed to the fact that Swedish consumers still desire to explore and test these products before purchasing. ■
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JEWELLERY in SWEDEN
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / UKRAINIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
JEWELLERY LIKELY TO BE ECONOMISED UPON IN NEAR FUTURE In 2018, Ukrainians were not extremely enthusiastic about buying jewellery as such products are not deemed essential and can be easily economised upon during economically challenging periods despite Ukrainians traditionally desiring to dress attractively and stylishly. In spite of the recent increase in incomes (eg minimum monthly salary increased from UAH3,200 to UAH3,723 in January 2018), there was little improvement in consumer spending power.
FINE JEWELLERY MANUFACTURERS TAKE CONTROL OF JEWELLERY IN UKRAINE A strong foothold in jewellery in Ukraine is established by local fine jewellery manufacturers, the biggest of which is Zolotoy Vek PP, which runs two rapidly expanding chains of stores – Zoloty Vik (Golden Age) and Sribny Vik (Silver Age). Other top players include local Kyivskiy Yuvelirny Zavod PAT and Zarina Torgovyi Dim TOV, which are not following an expansion strategy, thus the players are not as competitive as the leader.
SILVER JEWELLERY MAINTAINS APPEAL AS AFFORDABLE AND FASHIONABLE At the end of the review period, in fine jewellery there was a noted consumer shift to golden jewellery with lower weight and silver jewellery growing in share as a response to falling consumer spending power during the crisis years of 2014 and 2015. Manufacturers maintained such a shift through offers of widened assortments with increasingly sophisticated silver jewellery which is easier to experiment with in terms of designs due to combinability with other materials.
BRANDS LEAD FINE JEWELLERY, WHILE NO NAME PRODUCTS PREVAIL IN COSTUME JEWELLERY In fine jewellery, branded products have established a comparatively strong presence, while in costume jewellery the competitive environment is much more fragmented. The bulk of sales is generated by Chinese manufacturers’ no name products that are imported into the country.
COSTUME JEWELLERY – A FAVOURED PRODUCT TO LOOK STYLISH In volume terms, sales of costume jewellery exceed those of fine jewellery overall. Such offers are much more affordable even though they lack the high social status image typical of golden jewellery.
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JEWELLERY AND WATCH SPECIALIST RETAILERS GENERATES BULK OF JEWELLERY SALES The distribution patterns of fine and costume jewellery differ significantly in Ukraine. Ukrainians, when considering purchasing fine jewellery, go to jewellery specialist retailers, which largely monopolise the category. ■
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JEWELLERY in UKRAINE
A RTISTIC INSPIR ATIONS / POLISH JEW ELLERY R EPORT
ILLUSIONS in LEGNICA The culmination of the 39th edition of Legnica Festival SILVER, organized by the Gallery of Art in Legnica, is behind us. On May 18 and 19, vernissages of all 25 exhibitions organized within the framework of this year's Festival took place as well as various accompanying events such as the enthronement of the Golden Thumb – the patron of the Festival, concert or popular science seminar. Once again, for two days Legnica was a real Mecca for jewellery artists, experts and enthusiasts from all over the country and many corners of the world. The weather, the artists and fans of jewellery and the Festival itself did not disappoint, and it can be said that from the Railway Station to the Knights' Academy, Legnica actually breathed SILVER.
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3rd Prize (Award of the Mayor of Legnica) – Sanghee PARK (South Korea); 4th Prize (Award of the Gallery of Art in Legnica) – Marion DELARUE (France); Special Prize (Silver Spur) – Mari SYREN (Finland). In addition to the above prizes that are within the jury competence, the following artists were awarded prizes and distinctions from culture and art institutions and organizations:
A
nnouncement of winners and distribution of prizes at the 27th International Jewellery Competition Illusion was traditionally held in the hall of the Old Town Hall. The results of the Competition for the poster were known before, as the winning poster traditionally promotes the Jewellery Competition. This year, the author of the winning poster is Michał Gierałtowski. The results of the Photography Competition Illusion were also announced earlier – during the opening of the photo exhibition. Here Monika KOZŁOWSKA won
the First Prize, Bogusz Jan SZULC – the Second, and Rafał DONICA the Third Prize. Distinctions were given to: Krzysztof FLIS, Elwira KRUSZELNICKA, Małgorzata MADEJ, Katarzyna TSYNKEL. The international jury of the 27th International Jewellery Competition awarded the following prizes: 1st Prize (Grand Prix of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage) – Kyung Jin KIM (South Korea); 2nd Prize (Award of the Marshal of Lower Silesia) – Akiko KURIHARA (Japan / Italy);
Satoshi NAKAMURA (Japan) – Inhorgenta Munich Fair Award; Eszter Sara KOCKSOR (Hungary) – Polish Jewellery Award; Akiko KURIHARA (Japan / Italy) – Joachim SOKÓLSKI Award funded by the Polish Modern Art Foundation; Georg W. DOBLER (Germany) and Timothy Information Limited (Great Britain) – Awards of the Director of the Gallery of Art in Legnica; Silvia WALZ (Spain / Germany) – Distinction from the Association of Goldsmithing Artists; Felicity PETERS (Australia) – Distinction from the International Amber Association; Margit JÄSCHKE (Germany) – Distinction from HOPEA Company. During the culmination, the President of the City of Legnica Tadeusz KRZAKOWSKI was honoured twice. He received a statuette from the
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The Gallery also distinguished other people and institutions for their support for the Festival.
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Silver Rings were awarded to: Jerzy JANECZEK and Sławomir KĘPA – owners of JAKS Printing House, Joanna BIERNACKA and Agata BIAŁEK – representatives of Inhorgenta Munich and Anna DYDUK, Robert PYTLOS and Marcin TYMIŃSKI. ■
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Association of Goldsmithing Artists for the organization and financial support of Legnica Festival SILVER and Golden Ring from the Gallery of Art in Legnica for long-term and reliable
support of LFS, solidarity and trust in the management and the Gallery team and faith in the artistic quality of the Gallery’s projects.
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1st Prize – Kyung JIN KIM (South Korea)
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Photo by Akvilė STUNŽĖNAITĖ
SCULPURE, HISTORY AND PASSION AS A DRIVING FORCE Interview with Edvinas Busarovas
1) How did sculpture come in to your life? 2) Your jeweller y is inspired by 3) Your grandfather was a partisan – how I have always liked to draw all kinds of history – what historical events are did his dedication to fight for freedom characters, and someone suggested me you most interested in? shaped your self-expression? to transfer them into mini sculptures. For There is not really a specific event, I’m Yes, he was a Russian soldier who was a long time, I was thinking how to do it interested in history in a very broad taken into captivity in the beginning and whilst working as artistic furniture aspect, from Sumer to Lithuanian of the war and was held in Nazi restorator, I came up with an idea. Metal history, but I am inspired by the antique concentration camp, however he restorators were working with me, who aesthetics, the quality of Renaissance escaped and became a partisan, he have taught me the secrets of metal art works and the industrialization of led his troop and blasted trains. He processing. the beginning of the twentieth century. was presented to national award, but
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because he disagreed with Stalin’s politics, and helped Lithuanian people to escape Siberia, he himself was deported to Siberia for 25 years, where he died. So, half of his life he spend in two regime concentration camps, that makes me think and do everything to keep it from happening again. 6)
good opportunity for artists, there was no questions to participate or not. And with my work I wanted to show that it is possible to combine old metal and enamel techniques, and contemporary approach to sculpture. Metal art – who were your teachers? Which metal artists do you admire? The main teachers who have introduced me to metal is Olegas Kasperovicus, and with enamel technique – Maryte Dominaite. From contemporary artist I like Alex Sepkus, Jan Fabre, Ai Weiwei, they create art from different materials, including metal.
4) Music, painting, photography, sculp ture, metal art – how do you manage to mix all of this in one lifetime? Which one is closest to you? Sculpture now is my main occupation, all the rest is only hobbies, but closest is music, in which I have some achievements – four of my tracks were played in radio stations, and one track 7) You participated in Biennale in Florence was included in the CD compilation – what this recognition means to you? of the best works of LRT Opus radio It was very unbelievable, I went through station. a selection with a recommendation, myself not knowing that I was taking 5) Amber Trip art contest – how did you part in the selection. This is a great decide to participate? evaluation for me because I was I have decided easily, contest selected by an international highly advertisement I saw in internet, as it is competent commission and the fact a solid international exhibition, with a that I was noticed among the thousands
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A RTISTIC INSPIR ATIONS / LITHUA NI A N JEW ELLERY R EPORT
KING AND QUEEN. Silver 970, 999; Gold platted; Brass; Glass enamel; Gemstones: Rubin, Sapphire, Topaz, Rhodolite, Tsarovat, Olivine, Amethyst, Grenada
of artists around the world means very much to me. Many years of hard work and improvements were not lost in vain, and the opportunity to represent Lithuania in 2019 Florence Biennale is a great honor and responsibility for me. ■
INNOVATIVE AMBER THREADS IN CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY Interview with Laura MOTIEJŪNAITĖ by Austėja PETRAUSKAITĖ Synthesis of jewellery and textile can lead to an intriguing results. Have you ever heard about silver and amber thread combination? Laura MOTIEJŪNAITĖ is a young artist from Lithuania, who decided to merge these two materials. She graduated Vilnius Academy of Arts with a degree in applied textile. Working only with textile wasn‘t enough for Laura to open up as an artist. Since childhood she was dreaming to become a goldsmither, for this reason she took craftsmanship lessons at Jewellery school “Vilnensis”. Having all the needed skills she came up with new ideas, which leaded to the collection made with amber threads. www.balticjewellerynews.com
Model: Aurelija DAUNYTE. Photographer: Vera GORBACIOVA
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“Every woman wants to feel like goodness and my works only just complements what's already there”, – says Laura MOTIEJUNAITE.
BUSINESS INSIGHTS / LITHUANIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
Laura MOTIEJŪNAITĖ at her studio Photographer: Infinity Pykstyra
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How did you choose which technique from textile to integrate in jewellery? I created my own technique. Metal became the main structure of my works and Amber fiber was used as a part of this combination. Amber fiber is soft, good for your skin, it still has the qualities of a real amber, because in the process of making thread Amber is not heaten but made by nanotechnologies. Are you planning to use other amber products in the future? Maybe I will use Amber stones, but amber fiber will allways be the main thing I prefer.
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not afraid of new ideas. Because old ideas might stop you from growing and keep you from moving forward. How would you describe your jewellery in 3 words? Simplicity, elegance and warm touch. Thank you for the interview, it was nice getting to know you. Wish you all the best with your future projects! ■
FACTS ABOUT AMBER THREAD Source: http://www.jlutechnologies.lv/
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Your studio is in the old town of Vilnius. Does walking around beautiful architecture influence you? Where do you find new ideas? I love Vilnius Old town and it's nature. It is one of my inspirations as well. Even geometrical forms such as honeycombs and snowflakes, which are perfect by themselves, can be found in our daily surroundings. Although old things inspires me, I am
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Amber threads are used in your final work of master degree. Tell us more about this jewellery collection. Why it was important to incorporate this unusual material? The start of using Amber fiber was with my Textile studies, but I keep using it in my jewelry works today. I was interested in unusual materials, new technologies, which I could connect with metal. “To make the structure”, I would say. In 2016 I had a chance to visit ArcInTex conference in Barcelona where I heard about lots of new materials. So I chose Amber fiber and started my master project which was called “Textile and jewelry synergy in contemporary jewellery collection”.
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Model: Aurelija DAUNYTE Photographer: Vera GORBACIOVA
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• It was discovered by Dr.sc.ing. Inga Ļašenko – Director of Scientific Research Lab of Biotextile Materials of Riga Technical University at 2008. • Composite amber threads are organic high molecular compounds, composed of repetitive linear polymer structural units of polyamide with integrated microparticles of amber. • When amber is processed, its biological properties are preserved. Micronized amber – amber powder has larger surface area, which means – higher activity. These characteristics are taken into account when composite threads are manufactured in order to improve biological and physico-mechanical properties of composite amber threads. • This product is popular in Europe and among Dynamic Cluster of Textile Designers who are united by Baltic amber. • Amber threads are natural energy enchancers, has regenerative effect on cells, does not cause skin irritation or skin reaction, preserves natural heat of human body. • Other properties: blocks UV rays, does not fade, keeps original colour, has high water absorption. • The product is patent protected.
A RTISTIC INSPIR ATIONS / LITHUA NI A N JEW ELLERY R EPORT
THE REVIVAL OF THE ARTISTIC AMBER JEWELLERY IN LITHUANIA at the last decade of the 20-th. and first decade of 21-th century
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By Pillė VELJATAGA
The
image of Lithuanian girl decorated with an amber necklace was formed in the period of national revival at the end of the XIXth century. The national symbols used to be created with picking up what is necessary for their purpose, while the amber used to make our forebears renown – it was exported to the Roman Empire – thus it grew up to the level of the national symbol. Almost every woman used to have amber beads in an Interwar period. Also after the Second World War, in the 5th decade the amber artifacts took an important place among the other crafts. Since Lithuania didn't have higher education institution in metal arts, Lithuanians therefore used to go to study in Estonia, and majority of jewellers of present senior generation in Lithuania are graduated from Estonian Academy of Arts. In the 6-th and 7-th decades there were just few jewellers, who created amber adornments: Feliksas Daukantas and Kazimieras Simanonis may bee noticed. The oblivion of the amber has been strengthened by the fact that it was out of interest for the younger generation which had entered the art scene in the 9th decade. The ceramics, textile, other branches of applied arts turned towards the conceptualism, and the innovators in jewelry were also concerned not with the decorative features of the artwork, but with its semantic scale. The amber which was traditionally
valued because of its decorativeness, couldn't attract their attention. The return of the amber into the field of professional jewelry started in the 10 th decade. Let us remember that these were times of national revival and the symbolic meaning of amber has been reestablished. Virginija and Kazimieras Mizgiris took the initiative to restore the amber as the material of
JONAS BALČIŪNAS, VAIDILUTĖ VIDUGIRYTĖ. Ring, 1998
the professional jewelry. In 1992 they have opened the Museum – Gallery in Nida, also they have arranged the possibilities for the artists to work and held exhibitions in the Artists's House. In 1998 they have opened Amber Museum – Gallery in Vilnius. The exhibition organized at the opening of this gallery demonstrated the collection of works created during the six previous years, and the spectators got the chance to see the new possibilities of making amber jewelry. The works of Birutė Stulgaitė, Žilvinas Bautrėnas, Vytautas Matulionis became the classical pieces of jewelry, which stood up to the test of time. An input into the Lithuanian amber jewelry of Birutė Stulgaitė is twofold. On the one hand, the artist is a master of pure form and pure space, her adornments are made of a little bit of matter, air and light. The artist skillfully uses the characteristic feature of transparent amber to reflect and absorb the light. On the other hand, Stulgaitė was the first who started to disclose associations which are evoked by the raw amber, as a material testifying primordial times, an organic material which has been formed millions of years ago. Therefore in her creation of amber necklaces the artist brought into the company of amber various materials from pre-civilized times – a horsehair, a string, a specially treated, yet pertaining the elasticity seaweed. Vytautas Matulionis also belongs ⊲ to the generation who brought the
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ŽILVINAS BAUTRĖNAS. “Crosses”, 1996
KAZIMIERAS SIMANONIS. Bracelet. Necklace
BIRUTĖ STULGAITĖ. Earrings, 1995. Necklace, 1996. Necklace, 1996
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JONAS BALČIŪNAS, VAIDILUTĖ VIDUGIRYTĖ. Brooch, 2000
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VYTAUTAS MOCKAITIS. “Mother and son”, 2002
ALGIRDAS MIKUTIS. “Reaper”, 2004
amber back on the professional jewelry stage. In the necklaces and brosches figured as fish, lizard, spider, bee Matulionis combined the amber with other precious and semiprecious stones – a task which our jewelers never tried before. Matching with his works a historical concept of jewelry artifacts as figures of animals, in spite of using big variety of materials he hasn't however created a negative effect of mishmash. The artist managed to fight the stereotype that amber is “individualistic” material which cannot go together with semiprecious or precious stones. Žilvinas Bautrėnas, Lithuanian jeweler, who left for the USA in 1999, brought to Lithuanian jewelry the postmodern idea of an equality of images of high and popular culture. An amber with an inclusion is highly valued, so necklace “Inclusion of the XXth century” includes the most trivial things – a piece of photo, a small wheel from clock mechanism, jean's button. The transparency of amber in the works of Stulgaitė evokes associations with serenity and deepness, while creative indeas of Bautrėnas are based on the transparency of amber as purely physical feature. The amber is “soaked” into syringes as if being of clear, transparent liquid; it is used for production of lenses for glasses, with a logo “Made in Lithuania” on their frame. In 1999 the Mizgiris' Gallery was invited to participate at the competition of the Baltic sea countries for the premium of amber arts in Germany. The selection for the participants to this prestigious exhibition was held in 1998 at the Mizgiris' Gallery. The contest “Amber Axe is Rised” was held. The winners of this contest were co-authors Jonas Balčiūnas and Vaidilutė Vidugirytė, who also got the third place at the contest in German. Jonas Balčiūnas and Vaidilutė Vidugirytė (left for the USA in 2002) used to make rings and brooches with silver letter engraved into amber without intervals between words. You have to proceed tacitly through each letter, enjoying it as such, and only at the end grasp the
overall meaning of the text. The artists enjoyed the tradition of Buddhism where the world is contemplated slowly and gently. It's not surprising that even “seamy” side of the brooch which is invisible while wearing looks as if it were the “better” one. Next year the Gallery organized the contest “One Piece of Amber”.The conditions of the contest provided that the piece of amber should be dominant in the composition of the artwork. Majority of artists attempted to reveal the natural beauty of amber. Say, Ąžuolas Vaitukaitis installed into the wall of the Gallery a piece of almost two kilograms of amber (“Touch me”). Vaitukaitis used pieces of amber of an exceptional value, combined them with precision-worked metal. Algirdas Mikutis creates small form sculpture, noteworthy figures of Lithuanian pagan deities and fairy tale heroes. Together with Vaitukaitis, he also held an exhibition where brooches and amulets were created after the artifacts of baltic ethnical culture. On the other hand, the postmodern discourse was also evident at “One Piece of Amber”. The beauty of amber is traditionally associated with its natural features, yet Sigitas Virpilaitis suggested the spectators to enjoy the piece of material, which hardly resembled amber, and brought physiological rather than spiritual associations (“St. Sebastian”). Sigitas Virpilaitis develope a postmodernism in Lithuanian jewelry. The artist has denied the difference between expensive, unique and cheap, common materials, he uses silk, feathers, wood, fur, bright colored rope, amber beads. Our cultural consciousness keeps the amber under an aura of serenity, yet artists tend to look on it otherwise: Vytautas Mockaitis made an aggregate of sewage pipes and magnifying lenses which opened the view on the pieces of amber with... toadstools had grown on them.We have already seen so much of perfect pieces of amber that Solveiga and Alfredas Krivičiai the value of this material demonstrated in somewhat paradoxical manner: it is enough to know that it is there, thus— while concealing the piece of amber in ⊲
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LAIMA KERIENĖ. Necklace “Twelve”, 1998. Brooch “November”, 2002 SIGITAS VIRPILAITIS. Necklace “Corals”, 2005. Earrings “Flower-leafs”, 2005. Neckace “Fine”, 2005
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ADOLFAS ŠAULYS, MARI RELO-ŠAULYS. “Escape II”, 2000. “An Egg”, 2000
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ĄŽUOLAS VAITUKAITIS, ALGIRDAS MIKUTIS. Necklaces, 2006
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INDRĖ DIRŽIENĖ. Necklace “Floating”, 2003
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NERIJUS ERMINAS. “Table-ware”, 2003
JURGITA ERMINAITĖ. “Confessional” , 2003
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the closed box – they demonstrated the documents testifying for its presence in-there (“The Cube”). Solveiga and Alfredas are creataing a conceptual jewelry . The artists engage into the criticism of the consumer society and ridiculed the cult of things. For example, the amber balls with “Coca-cola” and “Made in Chine” written on them – these are the amulets which ensure the power of the consumer society values. Amber among the ready-mades appears itself like a cheap plastic. In 2002 was hold competition “Amber in Interior” , where 27 authors from Lithuania, Estonia, Poland took part. Artists presented works which could become decorative
EGLĖ ČĖJAUSKAITĖ. Adornment, 2004
marks of public or private spaces. Such was composition of big and small pieces of amber of Mockaitis (“Mother and sons”), an ethereal, hanging composition of Laima Kerienė (“Elements”). Keriene’s style is prominent for its lyricism, she uses various colors for brooches and rings, finds harmonious union of silver and amber. An air of home cuteness have“Skepetaitė” (“Handkerchief”) of Beata Zdramyte, where tiny pieces of amber and tracery of thin wires imitate the embroidery. In the so-called conceptual category the sarting point of the concept of the artwork for Lithuanian artists was the de-sacralization of amber. For example, Jurga Erminaitė designated
for the amber not the very best place within the house interior – instead of piece of cheese she put it into the mouse – trap (“Grabbing 2002”). The main prize went to Estonian co-authors Mari Relo – Šaulys and Adolfas Šaulys for the work “Home Drugstore”. Adolfas Šaulys and Mari Relo – Šaulys belong to the generation who are not new at the postmodernism. Asked if an amber is very much worthy, the artist answers with a slight irony: the object “An Egg” is a big piece of amber covered with a layer of dollar “notes”. The object “Home drugstore” presents the amber as if it were a gelatin used to cover the drug capsules, yet on the other hand you may find here the reference to
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the healing features of the amber. The visual warmth and lightness of amber suggested Mari Relo-Šaulys to create the brooches imitating the air balloons. In 2001 – 2002 mobile exhibition "Baltic amber: history and design" that included art works by Birutė Stulgaitė, Vytautas Matulionis, Žilvinas Bautrėnas, Ąžuolas Vaitukaitis, Sigitas Virpilaitis, Jonas Balčiūnas and Vaidilutė Vidugirytė, has been presented in Island, Canada, Belgium, USA and at the international exhibition in Rome, at the Vittoriano museum. The idea about adonments where amber meets the gold popped-up for Mizgiriai when they encountered the collections of European museums. They have chosen the candidature of Sigitas Virpilaitis. The artist had been encouraged to use as much gold and amber, semiprecious and precious stones as he needs, and after a year, in 2005 the exhibition “Amber and gold” was hold. Sigitas Virpilaitis left aside the entrenched opinion on the value of natural characteristics of piece of amber and changed its appearance unrecognizably. For example, while making a bell or a blossom of the flower, he hollowed out the lump of amber and after it has been made transparent in autoclave, the piece became whitish like body of jelly-fish, or of pearlescent shade like leafs of an exotic plant. The gold also didn't demonstrate the splendor of an expensive metal. The adornments of Sigitas Virpilaitis have nothing to do with the luxurious solidity; they are designed for those who feature in refined style. In 2004 the second Mizgirių Gallery – The Baltic Amber Centre – has been opened in Vilnius, and in 2005 – the AV17 Gallery. The competitions “Enemies of Body”, 2003, “Amber and Fashion”, 2004,“Amber Itself”, 2007, “An Inclusion – a Window to the Past”, 2008, “Mysterious Colours of Amber”, 2009, solo and group exhibitions were hold. These exhibitions attracted an increased number of participants from abroad, and the young generation of Lithuanian artist took part as well. In addition to the artists presented above, other permanent participants of the Mizgirių Gallery should be mentioned, such as Saulius Grinius, Dalia Varnaitė, Julius Vaitkus, Indrė Diržienė, Nerijus Erminas, Asta Šimkevičienė, Mindaugas Šimkevičius, Eglė Čėjauskaitė, Ugnė Blažytė, Vita Pukštaitė, Oksana Čepeliuk, Sandra Malaškevičiūtė, Aurelija Šimkutė. We may say in summarizing that the revival of the amber, which had started some two decades ago, affected the whole development of Lithuanian jewelry. In the imagined collection of the best Lithuanian jewelry from the amber would take a decent place. The amber is not only the material which because of its morphological properties is determined to be only of decorative character. Lithuanian artists started to actualize its semantic aspects. The amber is the heritage of Lithuanian forefathers – baltic tribes, used for the rituals and trade with Europe. The amber is both the national symbol and the souvenir production covering the street tables. Such a semantic “enrichment” of amber made it possible for its successful re-introduction to the contemporary art discourse. ■
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Ganyklų str. 18, LT-00138 Palanga, Lithuania Tel./fax: +370 460 51230; Mob. +370 698 79791 E-mail: info@ambermanus.com www.ambermanus.com
A RTISTIC INSPIR ATIONS / L AT V I A N JEW ELLERY R EPORT
JEWELLERY REQUIRES PATIENCE
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Interview with Una MIKUDA
1) What characteristics does one need to have to become a jeweller? It's mostly patience. Also, the desire to know, learn, research, experiment, discover something new. And, of course, precision. 2) You are a young artist, what advice would you give for a teenager who dreams to be a jeweler? Not to put yourself in some kind of box or frame and not to cut your own wings. To be enthusiastic and maybe even fanatic about new knowledge. 3) When I ask jewellers what is their life moto it seems like a funny question at first, but the answer always matches their art, so I will ask you that too – what is your moto? Be patient, dare and don’t stop developing yourself. Good things take time.
4) Jewellery in Baltic states – how different is it from the rest of Europe? I would describe it as a combination of craft and design, but less as a conceptual jewelry. Most commonly there are used classical techniques and materials such as precious metals, non-ferrous metals, enamels, stones, but the use of new modern, unusual materials is still not really felt. Also, the composition of the jewellery is more approximate to the Scandinavian style – restful, minimalist, but technologically made in a very high level and quality. In my opinion values that characterizes Baltic jewelry are durability and stability. 5) What art contests do you participate in? I have several times participated in the jewelry contest “Amber trip”, which takes place in Lithuania every year, and the first year of participation was the most successful – I got 2nd place
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6) Could you name few artists who inspire your work? I’m interested in other artists and their style and ideas, but I wouldn’t say that I'm inspired by someone specific. For example, when visiting a jewelry exhibition or jewelry art fair, I’m always influenced by everything that is seen and freshly experienced, and it creates a desire to act, to create, to experiment with materials and technologies, because there are no boundaries. It is necessary to let loose the spirit of creativity. That's why I'm inspired by the process itself – the more you experiment, the more new ideas arise and it's such an endless development. ■
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in the category of objects. I have participated in the international biennale of contemporary metal art “METALLOphone: Bonds” in 2016, where I was chosen to be a part of this exhibition, and I am planning to participate also this year. And I have decided that I will try my luck and apply for the eldest exhibition of contemporary jewelry work in the world “Shmuck 2019”. That will be a very important experience for me.
SILVAMEX Andrzej Szczypior ul. Kielnieńska 60 80-299 Gdańsk, Poland Tel. (48) 58 5209700 Fax (48) 58 5209701 Mobile. (48) 501 236895
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WHERE LEAVES BECOME JEWELLERY By Kamilė VYŠNIAUSKAITĖ
Gudrun Stolz from Altenberg designs jewellery from nature. Where she gets the inspiration? Where she gets the leaves, which she uses to create something unique
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A RTISTIC INSPIR ATIONS / GER M A N JEW ELLERY R EPORT 1) What jewellery means to you? Jewellery is a great way to express my personality and to express my daily feelings. But most of all I like to design and craft jewellery, so I can embody my creativity. 2) What is your inspiration? Most of all nature is my huge inspiration. On my daily walks with our dog I found many structures, forms and leaves. These things I often use in my jewellery.
6) What is your recent collection? I don’t work in real collections, my whole work is formed out of nature and during the years I often design new rings or pentants and earrings. When I’m inspired and I have the ideas for new pieces than I try to let them get real. 7) Is there any designer, jeweller, artist who had influenced your creations? No, I don’t have a special jewellery designer who influences my work. Just nature is my inspiration. I’m looking on other jewellery artists works and I’m collecting them in my pinterest boards, but more because of the piece of jewellery and not because of a special artist. 8) What else inspires you? After nature there are many things that inspire me. Just daily pieces and shapes, often strucures are great pictures. 9) What is the first thought when you hear the word `future`? What are your plans? I just want to make my jewellery and I hope that I can realize many of my sketches and inspirations. And I would like to get more visability so that more woman would notice my unique jewellery. ■
♦ www.goodrun.at ♦ shop@goodrun.at ♦
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5) How much time, energy and patience does it take to make a ring? It’s hard to say how much time I need to get one leaf ring, it’s a process with many different steps and I need to be really patient to get the whole structure and all the small facets of the leaf. But I like this work very much, to work so filigran and accurat.
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4) How do you make leaves ornaments on metal? Is there a special technique that you use? Yes, it is a special technique. I use some liquid metal which I can put directly on the leaves and in many thin layers I’m able to get the structure of the whole leaf. After this process I have to fire them in an ceramic oven so that the metal particles “sinter” together and the leaves burn and the structure stays.
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3) There are so many symbols in nature. Why did you pick leaves that are so present in your jewellery? I just love leaves, there are so many different forms and colors and shapes of leaves and they look great. I used to explore new ones and try to make new jewellery out of them every spring. But also there are other structures and forms out of nature in my jewellery pieces.
V
Article by Who’s AGENCY Photographer: Christian BANG
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COLLECTION
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A RT IST IC INSPIR AT IONS / DA N ISH J E W E L L E RY R E PORT
“V
is my latest collection. V is for Vagina – and the collection is a tribute to this part of women in all their divinity, and diversity. It’s been such a journey creating this collection – from heartfelt conversations, to pictures, portraits of vaginas and the women behind.” One factor of motivation behind the concept of The V Collection, was a realisation of a general and widespread discontent among women and their vaginas. “My focus in the creating process has been to portrait the beauty of diversity, asymmetry, individuality, scaling – all V pieces are special and unique – just the way they are.” Trine Tuxen
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To us Trine Tuxen is so much more than a designer, she’s a storyteller at heart. She is sure to command the attention of everyone in the room with her nuanced approach, her charm and her passion for creating. Trine Tuxen knows how to design and create pieces that stand out in a crowd yet are timeless in their expression. ■
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Every collection has a story, inspired by something or somewhere with a visual nerve. Muses are found in both small, invisible and intangible things, as well as in physical surroundings and the everyday experiences – the colors of the sky, a subtle movement or a feeling.
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A RTISTIC INSPIR ATIONS / L AT V I A N JEW ELLERY R EPORT
GIOIELLI IN FERMENTO:
UN BEL PANORAMA From September 7, 2018 until September 21, 2018 Art gallery Putti is hosting an art exhibition dedicated to contemporary jewellery and wine
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G
ioielli in Fermento – Fermentation in jewelry – is an international contemporary jewelry competition, which is running since 2011 in historical venues of Italian Val Tidone, like Villa Braghieri Albesani, in Castel San Giovanni, Piacenza (Italy). The source of this project’s inspiration has its roots in the wine making culture. As a metaphor for the fermentation process in wine, when a healthy, alive element of nature – the grapes – turn into a different form – wine, with a different taste, character and value. Constructing similar thinking about the process of creating contemporary jewelry – turning various materials into a special design, form and concept – jewelry. There are four main requirements in this competition: the coherence with a concept, the research on materials, the type of artistic expression and the quality of techniques. Winemakers and jewelry artists use their creativity to
Liana PATTIHIS “In the palm of your hand” – various silverchains, enamel, stainless steel
express and display these issues in a finished work. The result is a great wine and an admirable piece of jewelry. Over the years, the project has become an international project with the participation of well-known and established artists from all over the world in the field of art jewelry and represents the real “fermentation” in the world of art – turmoil, discussion, emotion. Eliana Negroni is the founder and curator of the project Gioielli in Fermento. She was born in Milan, graduated from Milan University and is engaged in industrial design. She has also completed Sommelier courses. She is a member of AGC, the Italian Association for contemporary jewelry, an important network in dialogue with all the international references in the area of jewelry research.
Eliana: “This project started with an inspiration from my two passions – wine and contemporary jewelry. I would like to emphasize that this is not just a matter of drinking wine, but an insight into the history of its production, which has deep roots in the history of Italy as well as throughout the Mediterranean culture. This is a kind of conversation with wine lover’s audience who are interested in appreciating how the artist interprets his/her wine. This is still a challenge for me and for the skills of the artists. It is not easy to find and show pieces that really match this idea through metaphors derived by their research in jewelry. The exhibition shows onfrontations and dialogues around artistic landscapes, looking at Mediterranean Italian culture through Italian and international artist’s works: Un Bel Panorama!” ■
Silvia BECCARIA, necklace “Bijou à boire” – nylon, pvc, cork, 24 white, red and rose wines
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Monica WICKSTROM, bracelet, ring and wine cup “Alone or together”– sterling silver, gold leaf, plastic
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GDAŃSK - POLAND
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OBSESSION WITH HEAT Interview with Sara CHYAN
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A RT IST IC INSPIR AT IONS / HONG KONG J E W E L L E RY R E PORT in, including fashion design, graphic design and photography. I realised I am in love with handcraft-based projects, where I can directly use my hands to craft out my feelings. So, I started to try ceramics, glass blowing and jewellery, and this was how I began my journey to jewellery.
2) When did you realise that jewellery was your calling? I studied for my BA in Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University. During my study, I was able to choose from a wide range of areas that I am interested
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www.sarachyan.com info@sarachyan.com instagram: sarachyanjewellery
6) You have won several awards. What achievements are you proud of the most? Why? I've been lucky to use this fantastic metal to tell my story about my obsession with heat so that people can see the beauty of this metal and understand more about this area. I am proud that I was crazy about experimenting with different kinds of metals, and failure never stopped me from finishing my project. 7) You have held exhibitions around the world. What is it like to prepare for an exhibition? Is it thrilling or stressful? Some jewellers find them exhausting; some find them to be inspirational – which one are you? I am a Hongkonger and Taiwanese, have completed my MA study and have started to work in London. This background gives me the opportunity to present my work to people of all cultural backgrounds.
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5) Jewellery as an art form – what does it mean to you? Jewellery should tell a story about the maker, unlike high-end luxury jewellery that determines the value
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4) What is your philosophy of creativity? Using storytelling to create art.
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1) Your work is unique and colourful – how did you find this unique way to express yourself? As my project is related to temperature, I wanted to find a material that can represent temperature direc tly. Therefore, I started to conduct research on various low-melting-point metals. Bismuth melts at 271.5°C. The oxidation of bismuth is stunning, where natural crystallised forms and colours can tell us the temperature. This project is inspired by my obsession with heat and explores the possibility of using temperature to assess one's emotional state. Temperature plays a major role in my project. Changes in temperature can lead to changes in the physical forms of the chosen metal. This transition between solid and liquid phases caused by heat gives metal an emotional character and transforms the metallic jewellery into an emotional symbol. Each colour represents different temperatures, so every piece is unique and one-off.
3) Could you name jewellers that influenced your work? Whose work do you admire? I could never name them all. Not only jewellers but also people around me inspired me a lot. I give thanks to those who have always supported and encouraged me through the ups and downs.
Therefore, I know that cultural differences will significantly affect the understanding of the practices of viewers. Exhibiting around the world gave me an excellent opportunity to reach a large number of customers from all walks of life. Such experiences are unique and encourage me to keep exhibiting. At the same time, I also have a lot of communication with other designers and artists. Apart from understanding others' works from books, I can commutate with other artists and designers face to face and understand the works from them directly. This process is very inspirational. ■
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PART SPIDER, PART SCORPION CREATURE FOUND IN AMBER www.balticjewellerynews.com
COLLECTIONS / WORLDWIDE JEWELLERY REPORT
Amber preserved in exquisite detail these 100-million-year-old close relatives to spiders.
spiders have smooth backs, unlike the segmented abdomens of scorpions, which are believed to have diverged from an ancestral arachnid more than 430 million years ago.
A new, bizarre spider-like creature has just been discovered in Southeast Asia, having been encased in amber during the Cretaceous period some 100 million years ago, and it might be more terrifying than any of the creepy-crawlies lurking in the dark corners of your basement.
Amber
mined for centuries in Myanmar for jewelry is a treasure trove for unders tanding the evolution of spiders and their other arachnid relatives. This week, two independent teams describe four 100-million-year-old specimens encased in amber that look like a cross between a spider and a scorpion. The discovery, “could help close major gaps in our understanding of spider evolution,” says Prashant Sharma, an evolutionary developmental biologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who was not involved in the work. Arachnids are a group of eight-legged invertebrates that includes scorpions, ticks, and spiders. Spiders, which crawled into existence some 300 million years ago, are known for their spinnerets—modified “legs” that produce silk and control its extrusion from tiny pores called spigots. Male spiders have also evolved another modified “leg” between their fangs and the back four pairs of legs that inserts sperm into the female. All but the most primitive
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But, despite some differences, “they draw the same conclusion—that fossil uraraneids, as this group is called, are the closest extinct relatives of spiders,” says Greg Edgecombe, a paleobiologist at the Natural History Museum in London, who was not involved with the work. One group’s specimens give a really clear view of the top of this organism and the other, a great look at the underside, spinnerets and all, Huang and his colleagues report today in Nature Ecology and Evolution. “The degree of preservation is exquisite, and the fossils’ anatomy is easy to interpret,” Sharma says. The presence of the spinnerets, he adds, means they must have originated “very early” in arachnid evolution. The male specimens also have the special appendages for inserting sperm into the female. Yet they also have a segmented abdomen and a long tail, like a whip scorpion’s whip, Wang and his colleagues report today in the same journal. “These things appear to be essentially spiders with tails!” says Jason Bond, an evolutionary biologist at Auburn University in Alabama who was not involved with the work. This means that early arachnids had a mix of all these traits, which were selectively lost in their descendants, giving rise to the array of arachnids seen today. And what is even more amazing, says Bond, is that the amber is only 100 million years old. So these spider relatives hunted side by side with spiders for 200 million years. ■ Source: www.geologyin.com
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The other paleobiologist, Huang Diying, assembled a second team that examined a different pair of these fossils. The two groups say they didn’t know about each other until after they submitted their results to the same journal.
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Then, several years ago, amber fossil dealers independently approached t wo paleobiologist s at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology in China with what looked like 5-millimeter-long Uraraneida encased in amber. One of them, Wang Bo, pulled together a team to look at his two specimens, which they eventually named Chimerachne yingi (“chimera spider” in Latin).
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But in 1989, researchers discovered a suspicious, spigot-bearing fossil that was 100 million years older than the earliest known spider. By 2008, paleobiologists realized that this ancient silk producer was just a spider relative, perhaps a stepping stone to true spiders. Researchers put it into the group Uraraneida, which was thought to have thrived between 400 million and 250 million years ago. That left unanswered many questions about when spinnerets and other spider traits first evolved.
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JEWELLERY COLLECTIONS / ESTONIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
GLAMOUR AND TOIL OF COLLECTION
B A LT I C J E W E L L E R Y N E W S
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A jewel is dear to one’s heart, wearing an ornament is one of the primeval human instincts. A collector takes a jewel for granted, others may see it as a spiritual security service.
“Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?” William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848)
KADRI MÄLK, Professor on jewellery at the Estonian Academy of Arts
Collecting and gathering are old and fairly similar phenomena. The Estonians, famed as hunter-gatherers, understand it well. Forests rich in mushrooms, brim over with people in the autumn. But art? Adapting an old Estonian saying, beauty feeds the mind but not the body. There are a number of art collectors in Estonia, including those whose collections can be seen by the general public. The most striking example is perhaps the collection of paintings by Enn Kunila. Another remarkable collection of historic everyday commodities belongs to Aet and Jüri Kuuskemaa. The collector Armin Kõomägi deposits works from his painting collection in public spaces. A deed worth our respect. Tallinn Art Hall Foundation does the same. It is much more complicated with collectors of jewellery. Where does one draw the line between merely possessing pretty items and dedicated collecting? Is this a methodical approach? Cataloguing? Having a data base is a must but above all awareness, sensitivity, selectivity, an educated eye and smart money are needed.
Kadri MÄLK. Photo by Tanel VEENRE
Those issues formed the epicentre of an event at the end of 2017 in Amsterdam with a 3-day conference “Jewellery Matters” by the Rijksmuseum as the highlight. The event was actually much broader in scope, throughout November a range of events took place in the Netherlands: exhibitions, discussions, book presentations, visits to studios and so on. Among the latter was a newly-opened studio, run by Sandra Savelli, an alumnus of the Estonian Academy of Art, who studies jewellery conservation and restoration at the University of Amsterdam at the time. The Netherlands are desirous of restoring their former avant-garde status in jewellery and they have the powers too. The CODA Museum Apeldoorn’s (Museum of contemporary art and regional history in Apeldoorn, its art collection focuses on jewellery and paper) comprehensive retrospective exhibition “Bron” by
Ruudt Peters will arrive in Tallinn, prior to touring China and other places, in June 2018 at the invitation of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design. Why is the Estonian jewellery collecting situation as it currently stands? Only because there is “neither bourgeoisie nor nobility” as pointed out by poet Juhan Viiding? Yes, that too. Collecting art is a passion. Like any other passion it is irrational. Art confers on us something that life perhaps could not, or expresses it without words. Connections hidden in our subconsciousness subtly guide us along this cognitive path. And we follow it as befits our will and opportunities. Spending taxpayer’s money as an argument becomes meaningless. Furthermore – heirloom jewellery. As nostalgic as it may be, the emotional character of heirlooms exceeds their real worth by far. I have seen and helped to repair a fragile ring made of precious metal during the last war. It was nearly translucent, the layer of silver was that thin. The ring had been kept as a relic and handed down to children. Time is often the best measure, the mystery and essence of human substance could sometimes swell your eyes with tears. Even though hypnotising precious stones attract us without prior knowledge (which can be sought from all kinds of dubious sources), the real thing hides from the field of vision. It would not show up on Facebook or similar. Who knows, they know. I have always had the greatest respect for the opinions of Meelis Oidsalu, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence. That includes art, too. Recently writing about market failures, he did so in a different context, yet it applies perfectly well to art. “Similarly to high culture, the so-called market
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find credible valid answers for all questions concerning us, however, from time to time we all find them in it. Outside Estonia, the largest collection of Estonian jewellery belongs to Helena Pahlman, a Finnish financial specialist, who started collecting with her husband Lars (1946–2014). In 2009 their collection was exhibited in the Helsinki Design Museum. An exemplary collector is Karl Bollmann from Vienna, a lawyer by trade but a Kantian philosopher by vocation who mostly collects precious jewellery. The volume of his collection of modern Estonian jewellery probably exceeds that of some respectable European state museum’s collection of Estonian jewellery. The Bollmanns recently exhibited their rich collection at the MAK, Vienna (2015) and in Germany (Hanau Goldschmiedehaus 2017), which was accompanied by a comprehensive book. But time, the fatal force, takes its own. Collectors grow older. ⊲
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LIGHTER SHADES Feelings and psychology, character, intelligent contemplations were rife at the conference at Rijksmuseum and in the best studios of Amsterdam. Longing for love, suffering and hope, we know the latter is the last to die. Dignity. Com passion. These would perhaps be the key concepts of the best jewellery art. Urmas Lüüs, teacher at the Estonian University of Art, was selected to give a pitch at the said conference. He did wonderfully well and genuinely, speaking of the idea as the riskiest material in the art of jewellery making. Blood, tears, animal liver, metals and other such material stuff – these may fail you, but if the idea fails you then it is too bad. The applause was deafening. Current Obsession is a crossdisciplinary platform, initiated in 2009, (initially as a blog and from 2013 as a printed magazine with a special focus on jewellery. It is published in the Netherlands, key figures are Marina Elenskaja (Russia), who has studied jewellery at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and Alchimia School, Florence, and Sarah Mesritz (Netherlands), who keeps an eye on the business matters of the publication. In addition, it features many professional contributors from countries like USA, the Netherlands, Sweden and Estonia. The mission of Current Obsession (CO) magazine is to place an item of jewellery in the context of
contemporary visual culture with the view of encouraging cross-disciplinary cooperation. CO presents a critical context for which various media are used including printed newspapers and leaflets. A CO leaflet proved very helpful in the busy Amsterdam conference atmosphere. Sarah Mesritz reckons one must be open and honest at first. It is also important where printing is done to prevent the magazine looking shabby. The online world expands exponentially but actual human interaction will not lose its importance, of this Mesritz is certain. Eero Epner, whom I highly respect as a shrewd thinker as well as a speaker, has said: “Art experience is still defined by the magic moment when a person meets a work of art.” In the times when objectivity is craved for more frequently, art might be one of the few places striving for truth, yet paradoxically, also constantly keeps evading it. Art is not where one could
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failure exists in the ruthless parody culture of jokers, though not in terms of the audience but the doers.” It makes you think. Meelis, is it this way in the theatre only? Or is our entire life a theatrical scene? I would not think so. Jewellery art is not a show, a jewellery piece is a matter of heart. Wearing an ornament is one of the most ancient of human instincts. “Jewellery is My Dearest Sin” is the title of the exhibition by Petra Zimmermann (Austria) and Philip Sajet (France) at Galerie Biró in Munich. I have only seen the exhibits in photos, yet dare say their honesty is astounding. Wearing a piece of jewellery – an instinctive capture of the situation – requires courage. Estonian people seem to lack it but it will certainly grow. Or, Urmas Lüüs puts it succinctly further below: for a collector, it is as natural as wearing underwear. For others a jewel is like a spiritual security service.
BEGGAR’S SONG. Brooch, 2017, l 129 mm. Ebony, silver, aquamarines, rubies. Author: Kadri MÄLK Photo by Tiit RAMMUL
SAPATEIRAS. Brooch 2017, h 70 mm. Moleskin, black tourmalines, white sapphire, London blue topaz, darkened silver. Author: Kadri MÄLK Photo by Tiit RAMMUL
MUFFF. Brooch 2017, h 60 mm. Moleskin, tourmaline-indigolite, darkened silver, emery paper. Author: Kadri MÄLK Photo by Tiit RAMMUL
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COMMENTS / SIDEBARS / INTERVIEWS
The problem lies with snowflakes. Snowflakes still lack the art of observing life. Sadness, loneliness and suffering are alien to them. A precarious approach to life is common in Estonia. A precarious person has no stable abode, employment or partner. Everything flows. DARKER SHADES On 3 January 2018, two thieves stole some jewellery which were on display at the Doge’s Palace as part of the Treasures of the Mughals and the Maharajas exhibition in Venice. The four-month exhibition was into its final day and the thieves seized their moment. The collection belongs to the ruling al-Thani family in Qatar, and is normally stored in a bank vault in London. The items in the exhibition are owned by Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani, Emir of Qatar from 2013. Vito Gagliardi, the chief police commissioner of Venice said that display items were in reinforced cases, opening of which should have raised the alarm instantly, however, it was delayed. The collection comprised items worn by various rulers of the Mughal Empire (1526–1857). Most of them are richly decorated with diamonds, it is commonly believed these precious stones make a man virile and fertile. The exhibition, brought to Italy from the UK, comprised nearly 300 items and the declared value of the stolen items on customs forms was about €30,000, though their real worth might reach millions of euros. I might be wrong but perhaps the above is the reason why our jewellery collectors are not keen to make their collections public. Even in central Tallinn we have well-equipped “surgeons” with knives. Anders Härm has written of relativity and fragility of the autonomy of the cultural sphere, which is an essential, almost inevitable value. Furthermore, it constitutes an indicator of the extent of society’s freedom and democracy, any attempt to intervene can be interpreted as attempts to question freedom and democracy. In the parlance of jewellery: think for yourself, look out for developments. Fragility is part and parcel of our lives. Is an ornamental item merely an illusory accessory to look better? No, it is a decision. Sometimes the decision for life. ■
LIESBETH DEN BESTEN Liesbeth den Besten is an art historian, based in the Amsterdam region, who works as an independent writer, teacher, lecturer, and curator. Presently, she teaches jewellery history at Sint Lucas Antwerpen. She is the previous chairwoman of the Françoise van den Bosch Foundation for contemporary jewellery, a member of the advisory board of the Chi ha paura…? Foundation, and a founding member of Think Tank, a European Initiative for the Applied Arts. Her book, On Jewellery: A Compendium of International Contemporary Art Jewellery, was published by Arnoldsche in November 2011. The SSC (Stichting Sieraden Collec ties) was founded in 2014 by Ruudt Peters and me, and our husbands. At the moment, it is nothing more than a foundation, which organizes meetings for collectors trying to make them more aware about their responsibility as jewellery collectors. They are wearing their jewellery but what will they do with their collection in the future, after they have passed away. Especially because we all know that most museums are not really into jewellery, and most public
jewellery collections are safely locked away in museum depots. We provided information about making a database, photographing the pieces, museums that hold jewellery collections, donating, tax issues, auctions etc. But our deepest wish is to establish a House of Jewellery, an earmarked place where jewellery is safe and not subject to the whimsicalities of museum directors and curators. It should be a place where private jewellery collections are collected and presented – partly in an open storage situation that enables you to show many pieces at the same time. Further much attention should go to digital presentations with videos and virtual reality opportunities to show the visitor how jewellery has been part of the daily lives of the collectors. Lastly there should be possibilities for the public to participate, try on a designated collection of jewellery, rent certain pieces etc. As you can see we really developed very interesting ideas about presenting jewellery in public. Our ambitions are big but after two and a half year we are still just a foundation with no money and no building. Yet, we are still talking with different parties/institutions about our initiative. About The Joy of Collecting: The purpose was to bring different people (known and just starting young collectors, students, makers, and other interested people from the worlds of fashion and design) together to talk about jewellery and collecting, and about the future of private jewellery collections. This part was successful – the room was full. About 100 participants came, and about half of them participated in the social clubs. Our initial goal for the The Joy of Collecting was to talk about creating an international database for private jewellery collections but we didn’t really succeed to get this subject in the limelight. The past year we discovered that most Dutch jewellery collectors are not really interested in participating in the data base system that we created. Possibly jewellery collectors (or collectors in general) are so individual that they prefer their own way of keeping and documenting
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About Jewellery Matters: Maybe I am not the right person to comment on this question, because I was not involved in the organization of the symposium. But as far as I can tell the aim of the symposium was ‘Breaking Boundaries, bringing together and connecting a diverse audience…’ (see the blue Abstract Book). Multidisciplinarity was the main goal. The range of invited speakers was diverse: jeweller y historians, art historians, historians, representatives of fine jewellery houses, a fashion historian, fashion
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My opinion (but this is just one opinion): I wonder if multidisciplinary means that you invite specialists from different fields and let them sing their own song. In a multidisciplinary context discussion should be highly valued, and well prepared. Unfortunately, there was hardly any discussion, while there was such a range of different people among the audience – you can distillate this from the list of participants – there were gem merchants, all kinds of specialists in jewellery (from vintage and historic to contemporary and ethnologic), jewellery artists and designers, fine jewellery house representatives, diamond merchants, collec tors, auction house representatives, sales people, appraisers, antiquarians, conservators, educators, gemologists and more. Unfortunately, their expertise was not used or put into action in a discussion. The multidisciplinary character also failed in another way: among the speakers there were no anthropologists, sociologists or archaeologists – all these scientists that have made great progress in Material Culture research over the last decades. Further, the symposium paid no attention at all to the generous gift of Marjan (1946–2018) and Gerard Unger to the Rijksmuseum. People who wanted to know more about it, had to do with a special showcase on the 3rd floor of the museum where some pieces from their collection were exhibited at the 20 th Century Department, and some pieces exhibited in the Special Collections Department. And finally, only the pecha kucha’s gave us some information about what is going on in contemporary jewellery today. I really enjoyed most of these presentations, especially those from Urmas Lüüs, and Sondra Sherman (those two were outstanding), and also noteworthy were the presentations by: Lauren Kalman (USA), Loukia Richards (Greece/Germany), and Levi Higgs (USA).
Why is collecting important for you: Collecting for me personally is important because it enables me to interact directly with the most positive things human beings bring forward. Notwithstanding wars, violence and hatred, human’s biggest ‘achievement’ over hundreds of thousands of years, making our world a miserable place, man is also able to create art. Art is consoling, comforting while also questioning the world and criticizing who we are. Jewellery is a very special form of artistic endeavor. I have problems with the statement: jewellery = art. In my view that is too easy but clearly jewellery belongs somewhere in the realm of the arts. Jewellery is made by individuals, craftspeople, artists, designers, and made for individuals to wear. On the human body it gains meaning, and this interaction is what really attracts me. From most of the pieces in my collection I know why I wanted to have it, and how I have worn it. Some pieces I wear often, others just occasionally, and there are pieces I will never wear because they are vulnerable or unhandy – but I see all pieces in connection with my self, my body, my clothing, my life. This is a connection that fails in our fine art collection. We also collect drawings, and have acquired some painting and photography. We like the directness of a drawing. But as I said, I don’t have this very special connection with the drawings and paintings that hang along the walls, and sit in a storage on the attic. Jewellery touches me the most because it is about people, societies and rituals. I am interested in history in general, in how and why people become ‘actors’ in historic events. I’m also interested in the history of jewellery – many historic events, such as wars, trade connections, colonialism, revolutions, industrialization, feminism, find its way into jewellery. Not to forget about the culture, taste and trends, the ‘Zeitgeist’, of historic periods. This is also the reason why we collect retrospectively. If we find an interesting contemporary piece from the 1960 or 70s, and it has a reasonable price, we will try to buy it. Further we have a small but nice collection of late 18th and 19 th century mourning jewellery, and 19 th and early 20 th century Dutch regional
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and design jewellery specialists, a geologist, gemologists, a customs police officer, and two heads of jewellery courses. The list of pecha kucha speakers was also diverse, from historic to contemporary subjects.
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(or not documenting). We started preparing The Joy of Collecting after the successful collector’s breakfast which we organized last March in Munich during the Jewellery Week. At that moment, we still had hopes that we could get collectors interested in a collective database, but slowly it became clear to us that collectors are not really interested – especially if you ask for a financial commitment. So the focus changed to other ways of presenting jewellery in the museum because we think most museums in The Netherlands and abroad have no idea about what jewellery actually is. Therefore, we collaborated with Modemuse, a website supported by a group of Dutch museums that brings together public fashion (and jewellery) collections. Lisa Whittle, one of the young and bright women working for this platform organized a project in collaboration with students from an art academy about how museums can use virtual reality to bring to live the objects (dresses, hats etc) exhibited in showcases or kept in climatized depots. She presented this project which is very interesting and shows that there are many exciting possibilities. It is her and our aim to look for further collaboration in the future, to see how virtual reality can be used in the context of for instance an exhibition about private jewellery collections in the Netherlands. Although our main aim is to establish a House of Jewellery in the Netherlands, all activities we organize are aimed at asking attention for jewellery and to raise the understanding of jewellery as a unique cultural, social, and aesthetic phenomenon.
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JEWELLERY COLLECTIONS / ESTONIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
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COMMENTS / SIDEBARS / INTERVIEWS
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jewellery – both types of jewellery are cultural and social signifiers. It is my dream to keep this collection together as one story: the contemporary history, and the historical pieces – because the historical pieces might help people to understand the reason why people wear jewellery.
many friends among jewellery artists. Nowadays the collection is very international.
HELENA PAHLMAN,
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collector of art jewellery from 1970ies, Helsinki, financial specialist by profession
URMAS LÜÜS, teacher at the Estonian Academy of Arts
At the conference “Jewellery Matters” I was seriously impressed by the symbiosis of different topics. The vision of Marjan Unger mixed people with different backgrounds, but who still belong to the same world. Curators, artists, histonians, craftsmen, conservators... When people are collecting jewellery as art, they create a field of new meanings. These are details for a bigger picture and by adding pieces one by one to the collection they construct their own spiritual and emotional microcosm. Passionate collector who acquires a piece loads it with his/her own aura and it becomes as personal and intimate as underware or tattoo.
Why is collecting of jewellery important for me? My husband Lars Pahlman (1946– 2014) started collecting art years and tears ago. Collecting of jewellery has been for us (Lasse and me) a part of visual arts but also a part of applied arts and a broader aesthetic conception. The passionate stage of collecting began in the mid-1970s. After started collecting it is important to take care of and continue the collection and make it as good as it possible. Jewellery has many fascinating properties. It has learned me much while getting to know jewellery artists, arthistory, cultures and different materials. How has it changed in time? My husband, Lasse started to buy jewellyries as a gift to me. Often I had a possibility to choose what I like to have. Collection has had many phases. At first we bought often when we saw something interesting and mainly pieces by the Finnish artists. In time it changed and we started to plan together what we want to have. For example we fascinated an Estonian jewellery art in the first independence years of Estonia and decided to have many Estonian artists as a part of our collection. At the same time we were also interested of the Danish and Swedish artists. Then we started to travel all over in Europe and see exhibitions and galleries in Munich, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Roma, Wien, Paris, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm… In those years we got
♦ An exceptional case might be a gentleman from Vienna, Dr Karl Bollmann, a lawyer by profession but a philospher by vocation, a Kantiaan, and his wife Heidi. They do collect mainly contemporary art jewellery. The part of Estonian young jewellery probably exceeds in amount many of significant Euopean museums’ collections. The family Bollmann has publicly shown their jewellery collection lately in Austria (MAK, 2015) and in Germany (Goldschmiedehaus, Hanau, 2017). A really serious publication was accompanying the exhibitions.
THEO SMEETS,
Professor on jewellery at Trier University, Idar-Oberstein College, Department of Jewellery Jewellery Matters conference in Rijksmuseum – what were the purposes and how the outcome/ feedback- in your eyes? “Jewellery matters” was an over whelming event. the first time people from very different perspectives within
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JEWELLERY COLLECTIONS / ESTONIAN JEWELLERY REPORT
Let’s face it:
in the end collecting jewellery brings adornment to where it is not meant to be:
in a cabinet instead of on a body.
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started in 2009 as a blog on contemporary jewellery platform but from 2013, a serious printed magazine. Published in the Netherlands, the key figures are Marina Elenskaya who ha studied jewellery art at the Rietveld in Amsterdamis and also in Alchimia, Florence. And Sarah Mesritz (Holland), who keeps her eye on the financial side of the magazine. In addition a lot of co-operating writers from USA, Holland, Sweden and Estonia. The editors have been visiting Estonia several times. Marina ELENSKAYA “Travel: Tallinn – Twilight Nation” / CO #1 Archetype Issue /SS – 2013/ http://www.current-obsession.com/ tallinn-twilight-nation/ Margherita POTENZA “On Tallinn – it`s youth and it`s magic” 2017 http://www.current-obsession.com/ on-tallinn-its-youth-and-its-magic/ The mission of CO magazine is to bring jewellery art into the context of contemporary visual arts, sensitivity, flexibility and also to encourage interdisciplinary cooperation. Critical context. They are carrying on the task through different medias – leaflets and flyers included. In Amsterdam it was really very helpful in all the mess. The most important in the whole story is the responsibility, says Sarah Mesritz. It’s important how the magazine is printed, who it looks. The quality of the contents: to be open-minded and honest.
RUUDT PETERS,
Amsterdam, a free-lance artist at the moment, long-time Professor on jewellery at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, at Konstfack in Stockholm, has been teaching also at the Alchimia in Florence, has been a guest teacher several times also at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
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CURRENT OBSESSION
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Why is collecting of jewellery important for you? How has it changed in time? Collecting is (or should be) primarily an issue for museums and art patrons (as in “mäzen”). i am not interested in collecting in the way it is idolized nad promoted as a big thing nowadays. the fact that collecting and collectors are getting this much attention is, within a wider scope as “the authorjewellery bubble”, even to be regarded as destructive for a healthy jewellery market in general. although I am not proclaiming that people shouldn’t collect; of course it is good when work gets sold. but to focus this much on collectors/collecting as lately is the case, distracts from a much more essential “task” of jewellery promotors: find a new younger audience and interest them for adornment.
Sarah Mesritz: online world is expanding in high speed, we follow the stream, but human relations are not less important. We have to feel where do the values are hidden.
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the jewellery field have actively shared information in such a wide caleidoscope. for lots of participants certainly an eyeopener to find out about what is going on outside of their own specific bubble (within the jewellery bubble). let’s hope this is a starting point in shaking of some of the (self-inflicted) limitiations put on the so-called art-/ author-jewellery let’s hope we get over the dictate of the art historians mixing into our field telling us what our work is about and in which classifying drawer it is put. let’s hope we realize, jewellery is one of the most valid arguments within globalization aiding us not to lose our anchor – as far as our analog environment is considered. and let’s hope thus we become aware that jewellery is in fact applied art in the sense of being a possible identifyer for the wearer within her/his time and space.
Joy of Collecting – what were the purposes and how the outcome/ feedback in your eyes? The purpose was to get more interest into the joy of collection and more interest into jewelry in the whide perspective. The netherlands need more attention on jewelry. There was a big group of people who attent the manifestation, it was fully booked. This shows the interest in jewelry in general there were people from all over the world. Jewellery Matters conference in Rijksmuseum – what were the purposes and how the outcome/ feedback- in your eyes? Jewellery matters was a symposium for the insiders of jewelry the profs. Without the knowledge it would be not interesting to follow ( i thought in advance). Finally by participating i was more exiting while the was a great interaction between art, fashion and fine jewelry something what i highly appreciate. Why is collecting of jewellery important for you? How has it changed? Collection is important because it show your own choice. What is important it
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show identity. It shows your preference Further on collection create a timeframe. Its an addiction but a nice one.
SUSAN CUMMINS,
California. Long-time gallerist and curator in contemprary jerellery, has established the web-magazine Art Jewelry Form (AJF), owner of the biggest contemporary jewellery collection in San Francisco Head of the Rotasa Fund. Has visited Tallinn several times to get aquainted to the local jewellery scene. Joy of Collecting – what were the purposes and how the outcome/ feedback in your eyes? The Joy of Collecting seminar was all about the act of collecting. Why do it? At what point do you have a collection and consider yourself a collector? What is the difference between a collector and a hoarder? How can museums be more creative in their presentation of collections? These were just some of the questions. In my opinion, there were a couple of really interesting talks. The philosopher Cees Leijenhorst provided a direct, clear and memorable description of collecting; and Lisa Whittle, the digital presentation curator at Modemuze, talked about ways museums can augment their presentations. And, of course, Liesbeth den Besten is always smart and informative. The least successful part of the program was the two sessions called Design Date. They were based on the format of a romantic TV game show. It is an interesting idea, but the questions that the contestants had to answer were unintelligible, and so they just resorted to
whatever idea they could grab hold of in the moment. It became a very disjointed and uninteresting exchange. I am also not certain how the format or the topics related to the overall subject of the seminar. Still, the organizers had good intentions, and there was something to take away about the idea of collecting in general. Jewellery Matters conference in Rijksmuseum – what were the purposes and how the outcome/ feedback- in your eyes? Jewellery Matters: Context and Material Research was a very wellthought out symposium. There were jewellery historians, art historians, archivists, academics, artists, curators, representatives from large jewellery firms like Tiffany & Co, gemologists and conservators – experts of so many different kinds. It began with a presentation by Suzanne van Leeuwen, who had worked with Marjan Unger on assembling the book Jewellery Matters and the symposium. She started by asking, “Why do people wear jewellery?” It was a theme that ran throughout the two-day event. On the first day, the presenters talked about different contexts of jewellery: from Bow Jewels in the Golden Age, to defining the meaning of a masterpiece, to jewellery in relationship to fashion, to jewellery migration and jewellery as a medium of exchange. There were lots of other topics as well. One of my favourite talks was by contemporary jeweller Sondra Sherman about the emotional value of jewellery. In a very compelling format, she presented a series of images of jewellery that had meaning for the owners. It gave a powerful feeling of the many ways in which there are human connections to jewellery, and it was very moving. The second day of the symposium addressed the use, study and conservation of materials. These talks explored the formation of diamonds, the dating of pearls, jade, gemstones, endangered species, organic materials and how to conserve them, the psychological properties of materials, the detective work involved in conservation, and finally the academic approach to training students. Two sessions really stood out for me. The first was a very eloquent discussion by contemporary jeweller Evert Nijland on using materials
for physiological effects; it was about using materials to say something, and I found that fascinating. The other was a very funny presentation by Theo Smeets about the Jewellery and Object Design courses at the University of Applied Science in Idar-Oberstein. That doesn’t sound amusing, but he is a great storyteller and his school was well represented by his talk. Overall the symposium was fantastic, although some of the more technical aspects eluded me. I loved the balance between the contemporary speakers and the historical ones. I know a lot about contemporary jewellery and very little about historical jewellery, so I learned a great deal. I was especially taken by the amount of detective work that historians and conservators do when trying to understand a piece of historical jewellery. This is not something that is an issue in jewellery made by living artists. The respect given all kinds of jewellery and the enthusiasm of all the speakers was inspiring. Why is collecting of jewellery important for you? How has it changed through years? I am not entirely sure why I collect jewellery since I don’t wear it much. But I do love art and materials and small objects, and jewellery fits into all those. As it is the oldest art form, I like the very basic human aspects of it. Why do people wear jewellery? Why do they make it? How is it used? What does it mean? It is complex and exciting to observe closely and pull apart the background of the maker and the materials until you come to the deepest reading possible. If you are ask,ing how collecting has changed for me through the years, I would have to say that I have learned more about what I regard as a great piece and therefore what I should continue to purchase. In turn, that process has taught me about myself – which is always a fascinating subject for each individual, I think. I also look more closely and keep detailed records of everything in my collection, which I didn’t do in the beginning. Over the years I have come to know the jewellers in my collection and I have developed close relationships with many of them and their galleries. I find that brings a lot of richness to my life. ■
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EXHIBITION OF POLISH AMBER ART JEWELLERY FOR THE FIRST TIME ON THE LIST OF CHINA’S MOST INTERESTING CULTURAL EVENTS Sebastian TAJL – member of International Amber Association
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have been living in China, in Kunming (Yunnan Province), for nine years. After studying Chinese culture and language, I decided to settle there permanently and open my own business. My company mainly focuses on selling high-end amber jewellery made by Polish artists. Due to my personal interest in organising all kinds of cultural events, I dedicate most of my free time to promoting Polish culture and art and to making people more familiar with Poland. By becoming an
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IAA member, I gained the opportunity to establish extensive contacts with artists and manufacturers. Poland from Sea to Mountains is a programme with the main objective to promote Poland (culture, tourism and education) in the Yunnan Province. Its first stage was the Polish Pavilion organised at a local trade show in 2016. The idea was to present Poland through selected regional products. The Consulate
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Mural – work in progress. Iwona Tamborska and students of the Guizhou Province University Art Department
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General of the Republic of Poland in Chengdu extended honorary auspices over the Pavilion. I had the pleasure to work with the Consulate a year earlier when preparing an exhibition of Polish amber art jewellery for the official opening of this post. In May 2017, we began to work together on the second stage of the project: The Polish Days in Kunming. This over-30-day-long festival featured various events to promote Poland. It included four separate exhibitions: Amber Waves—an exhibition of Polish amber art jewellery illustrating the evolution in amber jewellery styles from the 1980s until today (with 20 pieces by the best known Polish jewellers, teachers and students of the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts and the Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts), a Polish poster exhibition (posters by students and a teacher of the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts), a photography exhibition
of Poland’s key tourist destinations (21 photographs of Polish cities, historical landmarks, landscapes and folklore) and the TransGrafika exhibition of Polish printmaking from the Mariusz Kazana Foundation. The festival featured seminars on economy (WPHI Trade and Investment Promotion Section at the Polish Embassy), tourism (PTO Polish Tourism Organisation) and on amber, amber fakes, the importance of amber in the history of Poland and jewellery art. There were also classes for children, young people and students to introduce them to Poland and its culture. One of the two hosts of The Polish Days in Kunming was the Province’s most prestigious institution of culture: the National Museum, Yunnan Province Branch.
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IAA JEWELLERY REPORT /
at its official opening, attended by key representatives of the Province's authorities and Polish diplomacy, but also throughout the festival. The enthusiastic reception of these events encouraged me to become even more involved in promoting Poland in China and to attempt to expand this promotion beyond Yunnan’s borders. Together with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chengdu, we decided to re-run the exhibition of Polish amber art jewellery from the Kunming Polish Days and, over several months, we produced three more events: the Polish Pavilion promoting art and education at Chengdu Creativity and Design Week 2017, The Polish Days in Guizhou 2017 and Beauty Trapped in Time—a special exhibition to celebrate 100 years of Poland’s regained independence. The success of especially that last exhibition, hosted at the National Museum, Guizhou Province Branch, 23 January – 28 March 2018, exceeded our wildest expectations.
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Besides myself, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chengdu and the National Museum, Guizhou Province Branch, the exhibition’s organisers also included the International Amber Association and the Polish Tourism Organisation. The opening ceremony was graced with the presence of the Consul-General of the Republic of Poland in Chengdu, the Deputy Director of the Guizhou Province Department of Foreign Affairs, the Director of the Guizhou Province Department of Culture, the Director of the Guizhou Province Department of Trade and Investment, the Director of the Guizhou Province Department of Historical Monuments, the Deputy Mayor of Kaili City, the Director of the Guiyang City Press, Radio and TV Department, and many other representatives of the world of education, art and business. A day after the official opening, the exhibition was also visited by the Governor of Guizhou Province. Beauty Trapped in Time featured more than 240 exhibits by 51 outstanding Polish jewellery artists, along with professors and their students from the Academies of Fine Arts in Łódź, Gdańsk and Warsaw. Like at Amber Waves, the leitmotif of the exhibition was the evolution in jewellery style since the 1980s until today, this time, however, with special emphasis on amber in combination with other materials.
The Polish Days in Kunming was the largest event largest event-to promote Poland in 40-million Yunnan, and probably one of the largest in China. The exhibitions at the Museum alone had over 60,000 visitors. The event enjoyed massive media publicity, not only
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The idea to create a mural on the Museum walls, presenting the history of amber and made jointly by artists from Poland and China, proved to be the event’s main attraction. The Cracow-based artist Iwona Tamborska (designer of the mural) and students of the Guizhou Province University Art Department painted the nearly 60 m2 piece for five days, attracting lively interest from the media and visitors. The exhibition additionally featured a compelling demonstration of two jewellery techniques: an old Chinese technique of the Miao Zu national minority, by master Wu Shui Gen, and a contemporary metal clay technique, by Iwona Tamborska. The exhibition’s agenda also included: a series of lectures on amber and specially prepared open days for children and young people, to introduce them to Polish culture.
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The exhibition attracted over 90,000 visitors, with coverage in dozens of various media at the local and national level, as well as on official websites of the City Hall, provincial authorities and Ministry of Culture of Guizhou. Courtesy of the Museum’s management, we received a space of 850 m2, which allowed us to significantly expand and diversify the exhibition previously shown in Chengdu and Kunming, which is how it became the largest exhibition of Polish amber art jewellery in Asia. To the best of my knowledge, it was also the first Polish exhibition to be included on a list of the most interesting/recommended cultural events in China and it maintained this position throughout its three-month duration. Promoting Poland in a country which is very distant geographically and different culturally, such as China, carries a number of difficulties. They result mainly from the limited knowledge about Poland, or even a total lack of awareness, on the Chinese side, that our country exists in the first place, which makes it necessary to build Poland’s image nearly from scratch, but also from the misunderstanding of contemporary China often demonstrated by the Polish side. It is still common to perceive the Middle Kingdom through the lens of “images from the past,” poverty and backwardness, which practically speaking no longer fit the modern, technologically advanced and future-oriented country that it is today. The cultural aspect (customs and traditions) is very often passed over and sometimes even purposefully ignored, whereas it is the key to establish effective relationships. From the economic point of view, Poland can no longer afford to be missing among
China’s partners in the future, as China is more and more often referred to as the world’s greatest economic power. Although contacts have been developing between Poland and China for many years, the knowledge about Poland is still very slim there, especially in the provinces that are farthest away from the largest cities. Usually Poland is confused with Holland, as the sound of both words is similar in Chinese, and is associated only by some with either Fryderyk Chopin or Baltic amber. The Chinese know the great people from our history, such as Maria Skłodowska-Curie or Nicolaus Copernicus (elementary school knowledge), unfortunately they are often unaware that these people were Polish. Building any relationships, be it in the personal or business context, first of all requires “an introduction,” telling the other about yourself and getting them interested. It should also be the basis for the country’s long-term promotion. The exhibitions that I produce have just such a function: they attract the audience through a familiar component (Baltic amber or Chopin’s music) and at the same time create an opportunity to present Poland through its tourism, history, culture, education and whatever else we need. Any Poland promotion campaigns in China also have to take into account how huge and diverse this country is. China has 34 provinces inhabited by 56 national minorities. The multitude of dialects, cultures, culinary preferences and customs makes it necessary to approach each place on a case-by-case basis. We have to realise that Poland is not able to promote itself all over China at the same time and, for a country the size of Poland, this is not necessary at all. It could prove the most efficient to establish permanent collaboration with several provinces where it is relatively easier to gain interest among the local people, and only later to enlarge that area. For more than twenty years, the world’s greatest economies have been running focused promotion in cities such as Beijing,
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The Poland from Sea to Mountains project and the success of exhibitions of Polish amber art jewellery seem to confirm that two such approaches could prove the key to effectively promoting Poland in China: building a stable position at the local level and, subsequently, attempting to expand this position onto other areas of China and emphasising the events which focus only and exclusively on Poland. When the Beauty Trapped in Time exhibition closed, cultural institutions from other parts of China, interested in presenting it on their home turf, began to approach me personally and the management of the National Museum, Guizhou Province Branch. Although this involves a very complex and long-term preparation process, my plan is for this exhibition to be available for viewing in most Chinese provinces over the next two or three years. In order for this to happen, however, it is necessary to deepen and foster the already established relationships, which in China are the basis of any success, both in social life and in business. This is why, on my initiative, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute decided to organise a study visit to Poland in 2019 for delegations from the National Museum, Guizhou Province Branch and Yunnan Province Branch, which have already hosted exhibitions about Poland, and from Chengdu and Chongqing, which we would like to work with in the future. ■
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For reasons similar to those listed above, it would also do to change the nature of Poland’s promotion activities. We should move away from the currently most popular model based on large-scale international events, such as trade shows, where we are simply “one of many” (and certainly not the most attractive one), towards Polandthemed events which will focus the audience’s attention solely on our country.
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Shanghai, Shenzhen or Guangzhou. The competition in these centres is huge and it takes many years and enormous outlays for an average local person to notice the existence of Poland and what we have to offer. The situation looks quite different in smaller cities or less developed provinces. The presence of other countries is not as clearly marked there yet but the people are becoming wealthier and wealthier; as a consequence, they increasingly often decide to send their children to study abroad, take trips abroad and, most importantly, choose products from abroad in everyday life. And it is here that Poland has a huge opportunity, little by little, starting with such parts of China, to promote “the Polish brand,” make a good first impression where there is still no competition and we stand a chance of being remembered.
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THE IAA GALLERY EXHIBITIONS – Małgorzata SIUDAK
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ainbow Ambers, Amberif Design Award—Amber Prizes, DyploMy 2017, In My Opinion and Michalina Owczarek’s monographic exhibition are all showcased at the IAA Gallery in 2018. The range of artists and subjects makes the 2018 exhibition season look very interesting. In early January, we presented Rainbow Ambers, which showed items made by children during a workshop run by IAA staff at a kindergarten. You can read more about the exhibition and the workshop in Bursztynisko issue 41. The exhibition by kid designers was presented at the IAA Gallery until early March. In May, an exhibition catalogue was published with funding from the children’s parents and the management of the Rainbow Land kindergarten. The next IAA Gallery exhibition was Amberif Design Award— Amber Prizes. The idea for the showcase came up when
Amberif Design Award Amber Prizes 2000 – Wilhelm Tasso MATTAR
preparing the prize (the 1 kg of amber sponsored by the IAA) for the previous edition of the Award. And then we began to ask: What is made of this amber? What happens with the artists later? This is why, next to the prizewinning pieces (display boards and items), Amberif Design Award—Amber Prizes showcases the artists’ current artistic activities. The preview featured paintings by Małgorzata Karpińska (1999 ADA winner), dresses by Monika Oczkowska—the UNICORNO brand (2004 ADA winner) or photographs by Angelina Stoykova (2013 ADA winner). The exhibition was open until 15 June. You can read more about it in Bursztynisko - The Amber Magazine issue 41. After the Amber Prizes came the time for an exhibition featuring an overview of pieces by the students of the W. Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts, Łódź, Jewellery Department: DyploMy 2017.
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DyploMy 2017 – Joanna MACH
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The exhibition season at the IAA Gallery will conclude with Michalina Owczarek’s monographic exhibition. The designer is a graduate of the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts, Jewellery Design Department, and member of the Punkt G group of artists. In 2017, she received the Silver Prize (sponsored by the IAA) in the Identity competition at the 2017 Legnica Silver Festival.
Amberif Design Award Amber Prizes 2017 – Annelise MERCIER
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The International Amber Association supports art schools which teach jewellery design with the IAA’s practical knowledge, industry contacts and material to work with. In 2017, the IAA organised internships for selected students from Łódź in several manufacturing companies in the Tri-City area of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. Both the students and the companies were happy with the partnership. Graduates of art schools often have issues finding a place for themselves in the job market and, consequently, in the tight framework of manufacturing companies. This is why the collaboration between the International Amber Association and the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts is extremely important to both the art and business communities. DyploMy 2017 is an opportunity to have a closer look at the original, interesting and modern
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It is also worth adding that the IAA co-organised a large exhibition on Beauty Captured in Time, curated by Sebastian Tajl. The Association also designed a presentation of jewellery by IAA members at the PAIH Polish Investment & Trade Agency stand in Beijing. The stand featured pieces by: Maria Fijałkowskia, Mariusz Gliwiński, Ireneusz Glaza, NAC Amber, A2, Studio TT, S&A, Dariusz Zarański, Jolanta i Marek Pawłowscy and Eva Stone. For information about exhibitions planned for 2019, please check our website www.amber.org.pl/english and the IAA Gallery facebook page (MSBGallery). ■
References: Bursztynisko – The Amber Magazine 41 https://issuu.com/ internationalamberassociation/docs/bursztynisko_41
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After the graduate pieces, the IAA Gallery will present In My Opinion… The exhibition preview is scheduled for 7 September at 20:00. Designed by Andrzej Sadowski, Marek Nowaczyk, Mariusz Pajączkowski and Andrzej Pacak, the exhibition poses the questions: “What is jewellery like today? Here and now? What is it like in Poland? In Europe? It’s all sorts of things. But it much less frequently carries the something that should be described as a narrative, understood through a clear commentary, protest, negation, applause or question. Today, jewellery much more frequently “has got the look,” is “designermade” or “brand-name” but it has stopped signifying anything (perhaps apart from devotional items)”. The organisers have invited artists, goldsmiths and designers to express their opinion in jewellery. In My Opinion… premiered on 7 June at the Jubinale 2018 Jewellery and Watches Trade Fair in Cracow. In My Opinion… will be presented at the Gold Expo Show Warsaw, Magan Gallery London and Dubiel Gallery Warsaw.
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jewellery designed by the Academy’s graduates. Olga Podfilipska-Krysińska, head of the Jewellery Department at the Academy of Fine Arts, Łódź, says: “In the collection, you will find remarkably poetic pieces which may play the part of stage props, symbolic objects which refer to the old legends of gold seekers, jewellery masks which reflect mental sickness, but also Rococo-inspired necklaces ready to wear by contemporary women.” The exhibition continues until 31 August.
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CONTINUOUSLY SEARCHING FOR NEW MOUNTAINTOPS
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PERSONALITY /
Interview by Virginija ŽYGIENĖ
Užupis is one of the most prestigious and expensive districts in Vilnius – a far cry from its Soviet-era days when the streets of Užupis were among the most dangerous in the capital and people were afraid to visit this area. The so called Republic of Užupis is no place for stereotypes and currently has a number of artistic people with bohemian souls who create authentic, non-artificial art. Šarūnas Davainis, who was born and grew up in Užupis during the Soviet era, had a particularly rebellious soul: books about battleseasoned Indians turned the young artist into a rebel who did not care about school, but had a ton of energy to oppose the government of that time. When Šarūnas was 16 years old, he was kicked out of school with a “wolf ticket” for his anti-Soviet activities. His father, who worked in the Art Institute (and invented a press for printing graphic arts – editorʼs note), sent his son to work at a construction site in order for Šarūnas to feel the consequences of being expelled from school, as stated by the father himself. However, after just half a year, the artist already worked in the printing house and started his own family at the age of 18.
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The biography of Šarūnas Davainis is truly impressive: in his younger years, he worked with a well-known Lithuanian graphic artist Mikalojus Povilas Vilutis in the field of silk-screen printing, as well as actively contributed to the formation of the Lithuanian Reform Movement (the movement aimed to achieve the restoration of Lithuanian statehood and successfully did so in 1990 – editorʼs note) by creating its visualization and attributes. He was the first person in Lithuania to establish cooperative No. 1 in Vilnius (under the title “Lietuvos suvenyras”), while his established company UAB Amber was the first enterprise in Lithuania which officially acquired amber from the amber factory of Kaliningrad and began promoting amber abroad. Šarūnas Davainis was an active participant in the countryʼs political and economic life. He is known by the public not only as the founder of the Liberal Union political party, its second chairman and the Honorary President of Vilnius Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, but also as a person whose contribution in the promotion of Lithuanian amber jewellery is particularly prominent. He was the first one to establish an
association uniting amber artists and acting as an Association of Amber Manufacturers and Importers. The artist actively contributed in helping Lithuanian amber manufacturers discover foreign markets and has been promoting Lithuanian amber around the world for almost three decades now. Together with UAB Amber, he participated in international exhibitions in most countries around the world. In 2010, Šarūnas created and patented an infrared ray-based sauna of amber and an amber massage table. Later, he created a number of string musical instruments made from amber which also include a black amber contrabass. All musical instruments are usable with European intellectual property protection under OHIM. In 2014, the artist established an amber musical instruments quartet which is the only such quartet in the world. On the same year, he was granted the status of an Art Creator by the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania. The artist does not lack ideas and activities to this day. “I am like an alpinist climbing from one mountaintop to another”, – says the artist-jeweller. You can read more about Šalūnas Davainis in his exclusive interview with Baltic Jewellery News magazine.
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An overflow of creative energy could be felt in the air during the entire interview with the creator of amber instruments, artist and jeweller Šarūnas DAVAINIS. It seems as if the interviewed artist brought his artistic soul, rebellious nature and passion to create a better world for himself and others straight from his childhood years in Užupis, Vilnius district, which touches people with its unusual aura and inspires ideas.
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⊳ 1) What were your first connections turnover was high, because there was with amber and how did it appear in no competition. your life? Amber actually appeared very early in 2) You are the pioneer in the my life. My friendʼs mother worked in development of the amber the Art Factory and had poor ventilation industry in Lithuania and the in her amber workshop which she first one to begin trading abroad built in her home, therefore the room and participating in international looked as if it was shrouded in white jewellery exhibitions. powder. I can still remember the smell of It is no secret that UAB Amber was amber – I was greatly attracted to it. This the first company in Lithuania to go workshop was my very first connection abroad with its products (Vicenza, Italy) with amber. in 1989. In addition to participating in I lived in Užupis, I worked in “Tiesa” international jewellery exhibitions, we printing house, and in the evenings also personally promoted Lithuania I made pictures from metal, mostly through amber. Then a workshop depicting Vytis (coat of arms of appeared and more knowledge was Lithuania – editorʼs note), as well as sought about amber and the creative jewellery. In 1961, I graduated from the possibilities for its use. then Childrenʼs Art School after four At first, amber was treated with extreme years of studies, however I was expelled caution in Europe, because there was from high school for my anti-Soviet lack of information. Amber articles were activities and, at the time, I attended not very popular due to lack of proper the so-called Working Youth Secondary promotion and trends. However, when School. I would call this entire period a the Polish appeared in the foreign fight for survival and, in addition to all markets with their old amber traditions, of this, I was also being dragged to the things started to change. We have to soviet security building, but there were admit that the amber trend was created also a lot of happy moments too. by the neighbouring country, and Polish After serving in the army, I joined the silver jewellery with amber is quite Folk Art Society and began working popular around the world. with amber which remained present in my life for at least 56 years now. After were the best falling ill, I left the printing house, was years when artistic amber unemployed for a while and continued products were to get into trouble with the state security. I also did some work for the Art Factory Amber was and the Folk Art Society. Later, I began traditionally popular in the working in the auto-lovers society where and I established my silk screen printing bar. I have learned this type of modern style graphic art from M. P. Vilutis who was my schoolmate in the Childrenʼs Art School, 3) What are your thoughts on the as well as my friend. He is now a wellcurrent situation in the amber known graphic artist and professor. You market? could say that I was looking for my place The situation is now very different and in life and establishing goals during this amber jewellery has to face a lot of new period. challenges. I am very familiar with the After the establishment of the Move situation in the amber market of the past ment, we made its attributes and few years, because I had the chance to created its entire visualization. When talk to people from Russia who were I became bored with the silk screen leading the amber industry. printing bar, I left it to my friend and Currently, almost all high quality amber went to Pamir Mountains. I returned produced in Kaliningrad amber factory is back to amber and established UAB exported to China, while local producers Amber. It was the only such company can acquire raw materials only through in Lithuania which officially purchased auctions and only those of poor quality. amber from Kaliningrad amber factory. Lithuanian amber artists find it even Thatʼs how my amber epopee began: more difficult to buy the necessary raw I had 20 people working for me and the materials. A large part of the market is
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PERSONALITY /
1990–1995
particularly valued in Western Europe. Far East, USA Arab countries.
filled with smuggled amber which is illegally excavated in our neighbouring country, as well as in Ukraine. Amber was being stolen from the shores of the Baltic sea as early as in the times of Frederick III, the King of Prussia, even though such a crime was punished by cutting off the personʼs hands. I disagree with the opinion that the wave of interest in amber among the Chinese has already subsided – such decrease of interest is exaggerated, and is found only among certain layers of society. In Russia, this corrupt business had simply changed owners and now belongs to the government. This trend is proven by already the second recently published contract according to which the Chinese purchased 650 tons of raw amber from the Kaliningrad amber factory which has the largest deposits of amber in the world. An increasing number of Chinese people believe in the myth that amber has magical powers, therefore amber is particularly valued in China. Nevertheless, we must still acknow ledge the fact that amber sales have decreased around the world and one of the reasons of this is artificial amber, because few people know about the effect of the synthetic material used in the production of such amber. Modern technologies enable to produce high quality artificial amber, however it significantly downgrades the value of real amber. This technological innovation appeared in Italy, became popular in Poland and reached Lithuania as well. The buyer cannot tell the difference between real and artificial amber, and certificates issued for amber are also being falsified. Amber artists in Lithuania must also face unfair competition when buyers are misled regarding supposedly artificial amber sold by competitors, while tourist guides working for travel agencies are given a list of shops where they must bring in tourist groups, for a certain payment of course. This tarnishes the carefully built good reputation of Lithuanian amber artists, as well as encourages corruption. The price of raw amber from both Kaliningrad and Ukraine became hard to afford. The current price of raw amber in the market is truly abnormal compared to its quality. European buyers can no longer afford amber articles due to the overly high prices resulting from extremely high demand in the Middle East. Jewellers
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also had to adapt to the demand for 4) Nevertheless, we canʼt deny that particular product design – the Chinese amber truly has special powers. You only buy amber bead necklaces which have created the amber massage are of a certain shape, and they have no room and sauna, a wellness space interest in artistic jewellery. Currently, the which received international best-selling amber products are Muslim recognition. You will not find a rosaries which are bought massively and similar amber sauna anywhere else in large quantities by Arab countries. in the world. They are also produced in Lithuania, and My wife and I travel a lot and we have not necessarily from natural amber. If visited many wellness and health European buyers previously tended to centres abroad, particularly in Southeast buy large bead necklaces and pendants Asia, China and Japan, however we are made with special equipment, then mostly attracted to places which have now they are more interested in buying philosophy, history and substance. I small products (little crosses, angels, have observed and was interested in hearts, etc.). Things are different now SPA centres and massages in the city due to the current financial and political of Chiang Mai, the massage capital of crises around the world: people are less the world located in Thailand which has inclined to dress up nicely, they began more than 100 massage schools. I paid saving money, even though they do not 400 US dollars for one massage and did lack the funds for food and recreation – not find anything special about it. While all of this reminds me of the times of visiting these places, I came up with the ancient Rome. idea to create a Lithuanian amber SPA
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by using natural Baltic amber. My wife Viktorija helped and gave me advice in all of these innovations. Sauna and massage must create integrity. I have covered the surface of sauna benches and massage tables with amber (the amber-covered massage table and amber sauna were recognized by the International Searching Authority of Global Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as an invention that has no analogues in the world), and have also used pieces of amber to coat the floor and ceiling of the room. Heated amber emits amber acid which gives a person a lot of energy and improves health. Only amber massage tools and amber cosmetics are used for the massage. The interior is decorated with “Atom” and “Infinity” pictures, which are also created from the so-called sun stone. I believe that the massage and sauna complex is more of a space for relaxation
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PERSONALITY /
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with the so-called wellness effect, where each person will experience inner peace and relaxation. I use this complex myself, as well as demonstrate it as an example to all who wish to build a similar unique space. This also enables me to present a peace of Lithuanian culture to the world, to which I devoted a lot of my time and put my heart into it.
One of my latest works is a guitar made of white amber. I tried to determine the price of my amber violin, but how should one measure the price of the idea itself? I think that such an instrument
is worth at least 15–20 thousand euros.
5) How did you come up with the idea to start making amber instruments? During one of the gatherings of my friends-intellectuals which took place in a small private restaurant in Vilnius Old Town, we began talking about grand pianos. I knew that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich had a grand piano made of clear glass. At that moment, an idea popped in my head to make a grand piano covered in amber. However, 6) You have established an amber I later understood that I donʼt have that string instrument quartet “Amber kind of money (the grand piano owned Quartet” which is the only such by Roman Abramovich is worth around quartet in the world? How is this 150 thousand US dollars – editorʼs note) project doing? and it will be difficult to realize this idea, After making the violin, I came up with therefore I decided to make a violin the idea to establish a quartet consisting instead. of two violins, an alto and a violoncello, Up to that moment, I had little knowledge all of which would be made of amber. on what musical instruments were Violinist Vytautas Mikeliūnas helped me made of. In order to understand the find the right people in order to form the construction of a violin and the specifics group. Mikeliūnas himself, who is always of making such an item, I have twice open to innovations and improvisations, attended international handmade violin became the artistic director of this exhibitions in the city of Cremona, Italy, unique quartet. in the homeland of Stradivari (Antonio The quartetʼs first concert took place Stradivari was a world-famous violin in spring of 2014, in the Palace of the master – editorʼs note). My first attempts Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius, to make a functioning amber violin with and was a huge success. It symbolized excellent acoustics ended in failure. the beginning of Europeʼs Amber Nonetheless, I have managed to create Road musical project. We have signed such a violin after a few years. a cooperation agreement with the All of my amber instruments are Lithuanian State Department of Tourism, decorative and are not as perfect as but the plan to implement the Amber Stradivariʼs violins, and I myself am Road up to Venice, maybe even up certainly not a music master. However, to Rome or Sicily, was not carried out these amber instruments are the only after the election of a new Head of such instruments in the world which the Department of Tourism and after are both very decorative and fully changes were made in the concept of functional. I have over ten Lithuanian the activities of the department. The and international intellectual property current Minister of Economy promised certificates recognizing my amber to reorganize the dependence of the articles as unique products. In 2014 and department and its direction of activity, later on, they were also recognized as therefore I hope that the Amber Road a valuable innovation by the European project is not buried for good by the Union Intellectual Property Office government, especially since our (OHIM) which provided them with patent cooperation agreement was signed protection. for an indefinite period and is still I have made more than 10 musical valid today. I am also looking for other instruments. possibilities to implement this project.
7) However, you are already coming up with new ideas on how to use your extensive experience in the amber business? I am thinking of once again taking up the idea of the Amber Road with the help of Giedrius Guntorius who is the organizer of the Amber Trip exhibition, as well as a very active and energetic person. Through culture, we would show the achievements of Lithuanian amber artists to foreign markets. The “Amber Quartet” or another amber instrument group could become the ambassadors of the Amber Road. This possible continuation of the project would enable to restore the old historical amber trade routes by organizing joint cultural events between Lithuania and other countries, for example, in the country capitals, or even connect with each other through the ancient Silk Road (Silk Road – a network of roads from China to Europe which were used to transport silk and other valuable goods during the Middle Ages – editorʼs note). We have recently talked with the Chinese self-government delegation from Shanghai (the largest city in China – editorʼs note) and discussed the possibility to connect the Amber Road with the Silk Road through Georgia. It would be much easier to start moving in this direction if there was a positive outlook among interested authorities regarding this cultural-political-business project, as well as patrons who would fund it. I am also occupied with other activities, like writing a book about post-war Vilnius district Užupis, full of true stories, even though it may also be considered as an adventure book. I think that I might be a bit crazy, because I fell from a tree when I was a child – perhaps that is why I come up with all of these original ideas. I am like an alpinist climbing from one mountaintop to another. I am also a reformer and a seeker of justice. If I was appointed to an important position in the government, I would be kicked out on the next day due to my tendency to initiate reforms, therefore I have absolutely no desire to be a part of it.
Thank you for an interesting conversation! ■
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A M B E R INCLUSIONS
AMBER WARES, INCLUSIONS BERNSTEINSCHMUCK, INKLUSEN GINTARO DIRBINIAI, -
INKLIU ZAI
Amber Inclusions MB Talino 33/1, 05200, Vilnius, Lithuania tel.: +370 699 576 77, +370 646 302 34 e-mail: info@amberinclusions.eu www.amberinclusions.lt www.amberinclusions.eu
MARKET REVIEW / WORLDWIDE JEWELLERY REPORT
List of open selling prices of amber production of
JSC Kaliningrad Amber Factory Valid from 1st of August 2018
Amber of commission sorting Sort 1
Open selling prices (excluding VAT), EUR/kg
500 g – 1000 g
4 524
300 g – 500 g
4 073
200 g – 300 g
3 706
100 g – 200 g
3 335
p. 94
2 710
20 g – 50 g
1 843
10 g – 20 g
921
5 g – 10 g
479
2g–5g
141
B A LT I C J E W E L L E R Y N E W S
50 g – 100 g
35 –2018
Amber of weight sorting Sort 1
Amber of filter sorting 2,5–5 g or fraction +16
132
Fraction +14
63
Fraction +11,5
38
Fraction -11,5+8
10
Fraction -8+4
2
Fraction -4
1
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Beauty and Luxury of Baltic Amber ! Our shops:
Klaipeda, Turgaus str.3, t. +370 46 213390, mob. +370 619 55099 Vilnius, Didzioji str. 6, t. +370 5 261 7058, mob. +370 693 04542 Riga, Kramu 4, t./fax. +371 294 84807 New shop and museum in Riga, Valnu str. 23 t./fax. +371 294 84807
MARKET REVIEW / WORLDWIDE JEWELLERY REPORT
The Worldwide Price for
Raw Amber August 2018
B A LT I C J E W E L L E R Y N E W S
35 –2018
p. 96
AMBER FROM RUSSIA
UKRAINIAN AMBER PRICE
No.
Regular Amber Piece Size
Price / 1 kg – EUR
No.
Regular Amber Piece Size
Price / 1 kg – EUR
1
+5 faction
6
1
2 gr – 5 gr
130
2
+6 faction
10
2
5 gr – 10 gr
350
3
+8 faction
30
3
10 gr -20 gr
650
4
+11,5 faction
60
4
20 gr – 50 gr
1 300
5
+14 faction
105
5
50 gr – 100 gr
1 730
6
+16 faction
200
7
2,5 gr. – 5 g
280
8
5 gr. – 10 g
400
9
10 gr. – 20 g
800
10
20 gr. – 50 g
1 900
11
50 gr. – 100 g
3 500
12
100 gr. – 200 g
4 010
13
200 gr. – 300 g
3 700
14
300 gr. – 500 g
4 200
AMBER FROM RUSSIA FACTIONS 20–50 G RAW AMBER PRICE CHANGE 2006 FERBRUARY – 2018 AUGUST EUR per kg
4300 3900 3500 3100 2700 2300 1900 1500 1100 700 300
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 06 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08
If you have any questions concerning these prices, please, contact our office:
info@balticjewellerynews.com www.balticjewellerynews.com
MARKET REVIEW / WORLDWIDE JEWELLERY REPORT
The Worldwide Price for
Amber Silver 925 Jewellery August 2018
Amber Silver 925 Jewellery
Price EUR/g
Handmade
1,69
Machine made
1,46
Data
EUR/ounce
2018 02 21
13,45
2018 03 21
13,42
2018 04 21
13,95
2018 05 21
14,00
2018 06 21
14,08
10
2018 07 21
13,23
8
2018 08 21
12,80
AMBER SILVER 925 JEWELLERY PRICE CHANGE AUGUST 2010 – AUGUST 2018 EUR / g
3 2
Handmade
35 –2018
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 08 03 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08 03 08
Machine made
SILVER PRICE CHANGE 2018 FEBRUARY - 2018 AUGUST EUR / ounce
16 14 12
6 4 2 0
2018 02 21
2018 03 21
2018 04 21
2018 05 21
2018 06 21
2018 07 21
2018 08 21
www.goldenmark.com
If you have any questions concerning these prices, please, contact our office:
info@balticjewellerynews.com
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B A LT I C J E W E L L E R Y N E W S
0
p. 97
1
MARKET REVIEW / WORLDWIDE JEWELLERY REPORT
The Worldwide
Gold Price
Monthly average 2017–2018
Data
Eur
2017 August
1 086,2
1110
September
1 103,8
1100
October
1 088,4
1090
November
1 092,1
1080
December
1 067,2
2018 January
1 090,9
February
1 078,9
March
1 074,2
April
1 087,9
May
1 103,4
June
1 097,4
July
1 059,9
EUR per troy ounce
1070 1060 1040 1030
2017 2018 08 09 10 11 12 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
invest@gold.org
B A LT I C J E W E L L E R Y N E W S
35 –2018
p. 98
1050
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M A JOR J E W E L L E R Y T R A DE FA I R S /
MAJOR JEWELLERY TRADE FAIRS August 2018 – March 2019
International Jewellery London Date: 2–4 September 2018 Venue: Olympia, London, United Kingdom www.jewellerylondon.com ijl.helpline@reedexpo.co.uk Ambermart – International Amber Fair Date: 6–8 September 2018 Venue: Amber Expo, Gdansk, Poland ambermart.amberexpo.pl amberif@mtgsa.com.pl Precious Date: 6–8 September 2018 Venue: Stockholmsmässan's East Entrance, Mässvägen 1, Älvsjö www.preciousfair.se info@preciousfair.se Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair Date: 7–8 September 2018 Venue: Impact Exhibition and Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand bangkokgemsfair.com info@bangkokgemsfair.com Watches & Jewels Date: 13–15 September 2018 Venue: Prague Exhibition Grounds Holešovice www.incheba.cz info@incheba.cz Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair Date: 12–18 September 2018 Venue: AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre www.jewellerynetasia.com salesjgf-hk@ubm.com
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Intergem Date: 28 September – 1 October, 2018 Venue: Messe Idar-Oberstein, IdarOberstein, Germany www.intergem.de office@intergem.de GoldExpo Date: 4–6 October 2018 Venue: Warszawskie Centrum Expo XXI, Warszawa, Poland www.tjexpo.pl targi@tjexpo.pl Istanbul Jewelry Show October 2017 Date: 11–14 October 2018 Venue: Istanbul Fair Center (CNR Expo), Istanbul, Turkey www.ubmrotaforte.com info-rotaforte@ubm.com Gemworld Munich 2018 Date: 26–28 October 2018 Venue: Munich Trade Fair Center, Munich, Germany munichshow.com exhibitor@munichshow.com Jeweller Expo Ukraine Date: 29 November – 2 December 2018 Venue: Kyiv Expo Plaza Exhibition Center, Kiev, Ukraine www.jewellerexpo.kiev.ua jewel@kmkya.kiev.ua Mineralien Hamburg Date: 26 February – 2 March 2019 Venue: Hamburg Messe und Congress Centre, Germany mineralien-hamburg.de lara.meske@hamburg-messe.de VICENZAORO 2019 Date: 18–23 January 2019 Venue: Fiera Di Vicenza, Vicenza, Italy www.vicenzaoro.com info@vicenzafiera.it JOGS Tucson 12 Day Gem & Jewelry Show Date: 31 January – 11 February 2019 Venue: Tucson Expo Center www.jogsshow.com info@jogsshow.com
The Jewellery Show Date: 3–7 February 2019 Venue: Birmingham, United Kingdom www.jewelleryandwatchbirmingham.com sales@thejewelleryshow.com Signature Mumbai 2019 Date: 9–12 February 2019 Venue: Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India www.iijs-signature.org signature@gjepcindia.com Inhorgenta Munich Date: 22–25 February 2019 Venue: Messe Munchen, Munich, Germany www.inhorgenta.com info@inhorgenta.de HKTDC Hong Kong International Jewellery Show Date: 26 February– 2 March 2019 Venue: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong SAR www.hktdc.com/fair/hkjewellery-en exhibitions@hktdc.org XVI International Baltic Jewellery Show “Amber Trip” Date: 13–16 March 2019 Venue: Litexpo exhibition centre, Laisvės Ave. 5, Vilnius www.ambertrip.com info@ambertrip.com AMBERIF International Fair of Amber, Jewellery and Gemstones Date: 20–23 March 2019 Venue: AMBEREXPO Exhibition and Congress, Gdansk, Poland http://amberif.amberexpo.pl/ amberif@mtgsa.com.pl Istanbul Jewelry Show March Date: 22–25 March 2019 Venue: Istanbul Fair Center (CNR Expo), Istanbul, Turkey http://march.istanbuljewelryshow.com info-rotaforte@ubm.com
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JOGS Fall Gem & Jewelry Show Date: 31 August – 3 September 2018 Venue: Tucson Expo Center, Tucson, Arizona, USA jogsshow.com info@jogsshow.com
VICENZAORO 2018 Date: 22–26 September 2018 Venue: Fiera Di Vicenza, Vicenza, Italy www.vicenzaoro.com info@vicenzafiera.it
JUNWEX Date: 31 January – 4 February 2019 Venue: ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre, St. Petersburg, Russia eng.rjexpert.ru overdeas@restec.ru
35 –2018
Japan Jewellery Fair Date: 28–30 August 2018 Venue: Tokyo Big Sight Exhibition Center, Tokyo, Japan www.japanjewelleryfair.com info@japanjewelleryfair.com
Madridjoya Date: 12–16 September 2018 Venue: Feria de Madrid, Madrid, Spain www.ifema.es/madridjoya_01 madridjoya@ifema.es
B A LT I C J E W E L L E R Y N E W S
NEW NORDIC Date: 17–19 August 2018 Venue: Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark www.nord-fair.dk anne@nord-fair.dk
M O D N RA
RAPID
S T A E B T R A HE
Amber Trip art jewellery competition Deadline 25th of February, 2019 More information at www.ambertrip.com or email: art@ambertrip.com
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