Report by Angele Juodzeviciene

The Contest of Contemporary Jewellery was held during the International Baltic Jewellery Exhibition “Amber Trip”. The main idea of the contest was to enable jewellers to reveal their creative potential, to develop the openness of exhibition visitors and guests to art and beauty, and to help perceive a piece of jewellery as an object of art.

 Report by Goda Ivanauskaite

Report by Giedymin Jablonski
Chairmen of jewellery art contest „For you”

 For the second time already we succeeded in inspiring artists to focus their attention around the theme of the International Baltic jewellery show “Amber Trip” contest. 71 participants from 13 countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Finland answered to our invitation. The jury members had a real pleasure to see the works entered in the competition and then a serious problem to award prizes as their number was unfortunately strictly limited.

Over 2008, the Lithuanian Assay Office assayed and hallmarked 1.84 million precious metal articles, of which:

1. 0.39 million gold items, of which:

Report by Renata Petkute

 “A piece of jewellery is like a work of art to which a goldsmith devotes all his soul, all his skills, all his experience and artistic intuition, in other words, the artist devotes oneself” – says Viktoras Sitalo.

Viktor, you are an experienced jeweller – jewellery designer. Please, tell me how and when did your way of creation begin?

In 1989, I entered the then Telsiai School of Applied Art to study the speciality of artistic metalworking. Upon finishing my studies, I realized that I wanted to continue broadening my knowledge of jewellery, therefore, already then, in 1994, I started to look for information on foreign schools with a similar profile.

Report by Sergey Petrov Director of the Amber and Regional Resourses Institute

 She crashed into my life on a huge GAZ-53 motor van, wearing a suede jacket and high white boots. Talking about Lena calmly and smoothly is impossible, and all my memories of the past resemble the short stories of her favourite writer Chmelevskaja.

… Then and there, during those turbulent Perestroika years, having completed my military service and having said farewell to the Penates of the Kaliningrad Technical Institute, with two children to care for, I was literally torn apart between the two options: following the scientific path or the commercial path. The good thing was that at that period young people were smart and there were enough of them to work with and to start new business. No one had money then; thus, the behaviour of young people wasn’t too intricate, they used to group together actively, to create and to experiment.

Report by Olga Rogozina

 In April, the Saint Petersburg cultural life experienced an exceptional event – an exhibition “Stone World”, traditionally devoted to the Day of Geologist. The organizers arranged various expositions, which presented different aspects of the world of minerals. Different mineralogical collections were presented here. The exposition centre of the Central Science and Research Geological Exploration Museum presented to visitors the history of the famous mosaic map “The USSR Industrialisation”, manufactured by Soviet craftsmen in 1937 and awarded Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937 and the golden medal at the world exposition in New York in 1939. The exposition was timed to the restoration of the map, which was launched by the craftsmen of “Carskoselskaya yantarnaja masterskaya”.

 Report by Ema Lukas

Baltu Rotas Ltd was formed 15 years ago by Latvian jewelers Inita and Vitauts Straupe. This year company changed name from „V.I.Straupe” Ltd to Baltu Rotas (Baltic Jewellery).

During the 15 years of work, the workshop and 2 galleries were created. Artists have made gallery Tornis (Tower) in Turaida castle, Sigulda. And Gallery Tornis in Old Riga, opposite the entrance of St. Peters church. In 2007 artists opened The Museum of Ancient Baltic Jewellery in Old Riga.

Baltu Rotas produces handmade silver, bronze and gold jewelry – copies from ancient jewellery, traditional signs in up-to-date designs, modern design jewellery collections.

 Report by Laura Tomas  

Recently, routes of cultural tourism are gaining more and more significance for the tourism development. European Amber Roads are among such routes.

Trade relations that were formed on the basis of the Sun Stone Road between the Adrian and Baltic Seas have connected the countries of the ancient Europe. Merchants of the Ancient Roman Empire used to travel to the sandy coasts of the Baltic Sea in search for the "northern gold" – amber. Today, reconstruction of the old Amber Road is beneficial for the integration of the Central European countries, thus the development of cooperation between countries located near this historic road in the field of tourism is of great importance.

  Report by Renata Petkute

“My work is an investigation into the ability of objects. It is a constant question of
history, formation, prehistory, marks, and value. I’m looking for the connecting threads.
The ability of an object to become dear to you at the first moment of recognition...” says jeweller Adam Grinovich.

Report by Antonio Altarriba

Nelli Tanner, jewellery artist, was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1976. She studied jewellery and stonework design at South Carelia Polytechnic, Lappeenranta, and later at Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, graduating from both institutions with a Bachelor of Arts 2000 and 2003 respectively. She also has studied artistic pedagogy at the Institute of Design, Lahti, Finland 2005. Tanner has exhibited widely in Europe at galleries, museums and other spaces sometimes in group shows and sometimes solo o duo. Tanner has settled in Imatra at the beginning of this summer with her husband Ville Huhtanen who is a painter.

Report by Angele Juodzeviciene

"A piece of jewellery is above all a concept, an idea. If on the one hand such a concept has to be subordinated to the material, it is on the other also deeply inspired by it. Trough the connection of precious metals, stones and unconventional materials I create unique objects, which make the extraordinary wearable. For 40 years, this has been the stimulus and demand of my creative work"

Report by Dr. Laurent-Max De Cock
Associate Professor at Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp

I think about this topic that will often read many same stories from England, Netherlands, Germany or some other Europe country. Of course I know the new trends very well, but as a life attitude, we need to work to be original and follow our heart, no trends, and to question our selves what is our interests and why? Originality start from hard work and honest development in your brief without any copy or using of new materials only for being original, for young people very difficult to avoid to be influenced from outside especially the new fashion trends!