Report by Angele Juodzeviciene

The contest of jewellery art “Verweile Augenblick! Du bist so schön! – Stay moment! You are so fair!” has been arranged at the Baltic Jewellery Exhibition held this year with a view to introduce jewellery as a contemporary art, to promote most interesting achievements of modern jewellery and to encourage artists to employ jewellery as a means of expression. The contest was open for all artists and the number of applications was not restricted.

It is nice that the contest attracted many outstanding jewellery designers and young talented craftsmen. Pieces of contemporary jewellery art rendered with creative inspiration and innovative interpretation of jewellery were presented by gifted artists from Germany, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, United Kingdom, Finland, and, of course, Lithuania.

The contest saw the participation of 92 authors who presented 178 pieces of art. Most artworks were impressive and catching and could boast original and innovative realizations of the contest theme.

Whether an article is a piece of art is determined by its quality and not the materials it is made of. Therefore, there were no restrictions placed on the usage of materials and techniques. For the first time the participants and visitors of the contest were able to see the best that the artists could offer.

We intended to display the works of authors who influence the formation of the contemporary artistic jewellery and expand the boundaries of its perception. The ideas of artists and their realization influence jewellery business where the achievements are materialized in less extreme ways. Art is a unique work of the author. Each artist has his own style, touch and means of expression and uses all that in his own particular way. Artworks presented for the contest prove it once again.

The Jury assessed the artworks by applying criteria of artistic and esthetical value, novelty of the concept of the artwork and its craftsmanship. The mission of the contest was to foster and develop the taste of the viewers, to present the jewellery as an art, and to reveal the author‘s communication and his address to an individual – the one who watches and analyses.

The international jury included the following jewellery art masters recognized all over the world: Gediemyn Jablonski - 30 years of passion in Jewellery, academic teacher, art curator (Poland); Michael Zobel, Prof.h.c. / 40 years of passion in jewellery - design goldsmith and designer (Germany); Kristi Paap - artist (Estonia); Antonio Altariba - Design Coordinator, Curator of Art Council of Southeast (Finland); Kazimieras and Virginija Mizgiris – artists and owners of amber gallery (Lithuania); Mona Wallstrom - artist, academic teacher (Sweden). Also Sergej Falkin, artist, sculptor, Head of S. Falkin Artists’ Studio (Russia), Oleg Auzer, artist, founder of Jewellery College (Latvia), and Lev Romanenko, artist, Head of the Artists’ Studio (Russia, Kaliningrad district), who, after opinions on the evaluation criteria diverged during the jury meetings and upon proposal by the chief organiser of “Amber Trip”, Giedrius Guntorius, announced a separate jewellery art contest, where pieces of jewellery companies and individual jewellers – participants of the “Amber Trip” show – were evaluated.

It is no doubt that globally recognized artists contributed much to implementation of the ideas and objectives of the contest organizers.

Gediemyn Jablonski - curator of the contest and the chairperson of the Jury: 

"This famous quotation from Goethe’s Faust was the theme of the first competition of art jewellery in Vilnius organised by “Amber Trip. The idea of the competition was to promote and include into the International Baltic Jewellery Show "Amber Trip" the contemporary art jewellery, a new field of art that was born in the second half of XX century when artists started to exploit the most modern technology as well as traditional crafts. Jewellery thanks to its symbolic connotations, close connections with human body and specific way of communication that except the author and the recipient/viewer includes the person of the wearer, became a very attractive medium of artistic expression. Despite this popularity in the world of art it is still not so widely known and the notion ‘jewellery’ is universally associated first of all with products of industry and craft. When a year ago Giedrius Guntorius proposed to organise a new artistic competition in Vilnius I felt an unfounded but strong belief that it could become a successful project. Finally it turned out to be a success, but as it happens in new ventures, we encountered a lot of more or less expected problems, some of them also at the final stages. The consciousness how many artists from all over Europe joined forces to create this undoubtedly meaning and interesting exhibition confirmed our belief that this project should be continued."

Thus with some help of the wonderful genius loci of Vilnius – I’m not surprised that this city was chosen to be the first Culture Capitol of Europe among the new European Union members, as for me it always was one of the culture capitols of the world“

Prize fund of the contest offered 10 000 LT in cash and one year subscription for magazine “Baltic Jewellery News” for the winners of the main prizes. After long considerations the Jury selected winners of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

The winner of the 1st place was Sina Emrich from Germany. She was awarded a diploma and monetary prize of 5000 LT. “My jewellery is about travelling. Travelling to the inside and the outside world. Wood as a source of inspiration which I can also find everywhere gives me the opportunity to explore the whole wide world in my own special way. Wood is a very lively material and it changes all the time, it is a never ending process. That is why you can compare wood and making jewellery to travelling. Both are a process. Everything is movement, is in the flow.” Mecky van den Brinck from the Netherlands has taken second place and was awarded a diploma and a monetary prize of 3332 LT. “The emotional value of the materials remains intact; they form the basis for a coherent oeuvre.”

Five specials prizes – diplomas went to the following artists: Jurgita Erminaite, Lithuania; Mariusz Gliwinski, Poland; Maren Giloy, Germany; Pilleriin Jurisoo, Estonia; Aneta Lis Marcinkewicz, Poland.

The winners of the contemporary jewellery art are:

For the best art idea - Piotr Wajch (Poland)

For the best design - Vytautas Jonutis (Lithuania)

For the best expression and art idea in material - Vytas Norkunas (Lithuania)

All winners of the contests were offered congratulations and awarded at the event “Amber Trip Fashion Show” on 8th of March. Gratifying letters were sent to all participants. We hope that the contest that took place during the Baltic Jewellery Exhibition “Amber Trip“ as a follow-up project will be a promising investment to the whole culture of jewellery. By participating in the contest individual artists were offered excellent possibility to represent their country and the participants and visitors were able to familiarize themselves with the traditional and innovative outlook of jewellery artists from different countries.

Next year the jewellery designers will be invited to participate in the exhibition and to present their interpretations of a new theme. Artists of different countries and cultures understand art - a universal language of humanity – and shape our positive future by their creativity. And the organizers are proud to be part of the process.