FEATURE
ART JEWELLERY
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more, because it gives them
something special,” she says.
“People are moving closer to
contemporary art, compared
to 15 years ago. Before people
tended to buy more antique
furniture, whereas now they’re
more interested in design pieces,
or mixing old furniture with
contemporary paintings. They
have a different sensibility now.”
Interestingly from an artist’s
point of view, Brewster believes
that while there is a market, with
particular interest coming from
Germany and in America (where
there are shows specifically for art
jewellers), overall, art jewellery
is one of the most undervalued,
leaving huge “gaps in the market”.
“When you have such an
established concept of what
jewellery should be you start to
putting restraints on the creative
process of making jewellery. I
don’t think jewellery itself is
valued as an artform as it should
be. We have lost the exploration
and it has become niche, because
of that we have lost some of the
power. If you make jewellery
people don’t know what it is and
they assume jewellery is such a
certain specific thing and if that is
the case then there is no room for
creativity in the field.”
‘‘
In the future
people will
want to strike
out of this very
predefined
concept of what
jewellery is
but still make
work that is
appreciated
‘‘
Simone Brewster
20 JEWELLERY FOCUS
The future
While Brewster admits it is not
“always appropriate” to wear
huge art jewellery pieces on an
everyday basis, she argues not
all art jewellery has to be large
in size and can be about the
material or shape. She is adamant
she will always have a “strong
appreciation” for art jewellery and
believes so will others “It is not in
the markets interest for it to be
fully adopted”.
“Overall I don’t think it is in the
interest of the established industry
to change. What I think might
actually happen is that we will see
more people do what Ted Noten
does in regards to his catwalk
shows showcasing jewellery or
installations in order to get away
from the closed definitions of what
jewellery is,” Brewster comments.
“In the future people will want
to strike out of this very predefined
concept of what jewellery is but still
make work that is appreciated. It
is going to be about re-establishing
the context of how it is staged and
how it is set and it is not just going
to be about placing a piece of
jewellery on the body.”
December 2018 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk