European Jewelry

It is a question that comes up a lot. Like the art/craft debate or the newly invigorated discussion of what constitutes on avant-garde movement. Just what is it about those European jewelers? European work is often admired for its ability to be experimental and seemingly unconstrained while retaining a certain finesse that we suspect may be the result of intensive technical training (it turns out this is the exception more than the rule). More culturally supported, European jewelry can eschew the marketplace in a way that American work cannot and this too is enviable.

The contact conference at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston provided a forum for immersion into this mode of making. Self-proclaimed jewelry artists from eight European countries, Canada, and the U.S. came to participate in four-day workshops, install and view exhibitions, and listen to presentations by artists who are actively exploring new ways of communicating through jewelry. A method of making has emerged that is clearly discernable and worth examining internationally, a number of jewelers are working in a way that could be called experimental or exploratory.

The natural home of this type of work is largely seen as Northern Europe. It is here that a striking difference between American and European jewelry snaps into focus. What I witnessed at Contact is that context is more central to European work and that, overall, more consideration is given to the way work is displayed, documented, and supported.

The entire equation, not just the final result, gives the work its meaning. There is a school of thought, predominant in the U.S. and bolstered by our strong craft tradition, that a piece should stand alone on its own merits and not require additional information to be fully appreciated. Add to this the market issue of gallery sales and there is pressure for each piece to be a fully realized, wearable object, wowing the customer from its velvet-lined drawer.

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