all4design-design4all: ATHENS JEWELRY WEEK 2019: IS CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY AN ART FORM? AN ART-VERSUS-DESIGN DEBATE.

In photo above: Donuts by Cedric Chevalley, three bracelets as a sculpture (upcycled wood, rubber, steel, magnet). Athens Jewelry Week 2019 at the Benaki Museum, Pireos avenue annex.

In the iconic publication on Gijs Bakker by Arnoldsche Publishers, Ida van Zijl refers in her preface to the pivotal moments in the evolution of the great master's work, but at the same time she describes through his background the captivating history of avant-garde jewelry the last 60 years.

From the Objects to Wear exhibition in 1969 to the Object to Use in 2000 and in between the Medium is the Message approach in 1976 (nowadays to be: the Message is Somewhere inside the Medium) and the Profile Brooch in 1983 (: I Am An Individual manifestation), plus Reconciliation (aka: Soul) and Virtuosity (aka: Design) from 1985 and onwards, the author is going through the great Dutch jeweller's pathway but at the same time she explores the intellectual challenges of contemporary jewelry as a hybrid of Art and Design these last decades.

The fact that we had to judge contemporary jewelry in the same way as we do with other fine art disciplines, created the past years an affiliation to this exact methodology by many establishments not allowing enough the subject of contemporary jewelry to tip towards design, (by fear that thus would degrade its importance as a creative form, or "Art" form.)

Design, being nowadays an area of intense experimentation, ideas and technologies for the future far more than Fine Arts - it seems to create a stronger liaison with that "glimpse at the Future" with the essential, avant-garde jewelry and what it is promoting right now on an intellectual and technical level.

"Now that Jewelry is no longer at the centre of attention as developments in the field* are not considered sufficiently interesting**, discussion of these questions has dried up as design Jewelry has once again become trapped in the narrow niche to which art critics*** have consigned it. That is a great pity, as an intense theoretical debate would provide an excellent stimulus to designs and to the field a s whole."

*/** Digital/Smart technologies, ECOlution, Sustainability
***and art curators

The representations from which a jeweller draws inspiration, provide a source o influence and a kick to his/her imagination. That process does not constitute avant-garde Jewelry as an Art form, with the absolution of the term as we know it up to now - but as a Manifesto of its own, in terms of creative expression and combined manufacturing techniques. It is about time to perceive contemporary jewelry as a complete, separate entity and provide the attention and the theoretical-technical knowhow needed to serve & support it.

Enjoy the works of AJW 2019 strongly overmining that general feeling of an independant discipline once more, from top to bottom: Cross My Heart brooch - object by Artemis Valsamaki. Brooches Zmei #6, #7, #8 by Teodor Siminic. Pieces by Guest Artist Attai Chen. My God Does Not Judge pendant by Vicky Kanellopoulos. Picking up the Pieces brooches by Liana Pattihis. Moments brooch by Panagiotis Petroulakis. Perseverance #2 pendant by Constantinos Papadoukas. Orchid brooch by Sophia Mann. Gage necklace by Zoe Siu Yu. GOD2 pendant & object by Invited Artist Edu Tarin.