Jewelry with a name

by Ekaterina Levina


For those who are interested in contemporary jewelry design the exhibit “Designers on Jewelry: Twelve Years of Jewelry Production Chi ha paura…?” (Translation: Who’s afraid of…contemporary jewelry?) at The San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design is a must.

I call this type of jewelry “jewelry with a name” because every piece has a title, a story and a name of the artist next to it.
Sure, the design is very modern, but the subjects of adornments are almost eternal. Artists express their opinion on love, attachment, friendship, rituals, sense of wonder, humor and sex. Some combine a few things at once.

Two delicate rings “Hello” by Peter Skubic made of gold and blackened silver in a shape of penises look rather a bit sad and funny than arrogant.
If you ever wondered about a way to personalize your beloved computer, you can find a few ideas. For example, “Gold Key $4” by Marti Guixe sure would brighten any keyboard, unless it reminds you a gold crown between plastic teeth of your computer.

My favorite is a brooch “Rose” by Esther Knobel - a silver stem with a thorn with a holder for a real dried rosebud. I love this piece. It’s sentimental and romantic but without too much sweetness.

An original take on wedding jewelry is “Wedding Ring Pendant” by Ted Noten. It’s a gold ring cast in a square crystal-clear perspex body. It has a clean and minimalist feel.

A bit more challenging but definitely worth trying are “Wedding Pills” by Ted Noten. A couple is supposed to take gold pills with a drink and then recover them after their way through the body. The ritual could be repeated in a case of a new family crisis. Well, if a couple can do a ritual like this together, they are indestructible!

The exhibit shows the possibility of jewelry to be not only a piece of personal adornment but also a powerful mean of a self expression. These art objects play a bigger role than being “conversation pieces”. They can show different attitudes, emotions, express wishes and a sense of humor.

I found a sketchbook on a table with catalogs in the museum and looked through it. It definitely belonged to a jewelry design student. I liked one sketch of a flower on a grid and I wrote next to it: “I can see a magnolia here… Nice!”

A young Asian girl came later to get her sketchbook. She didn’t open while I was there.

Rings and bracelets on display.

Look for gold pills in a glass.