The topic of the 12th International Contest for the Design of Jewellery with Amber Amberif Design Award is the Talisman.
 The intention behind this contest, organized for the 12 th time by the Gdansk International Fair Co. is a promotion of a creative thought and new ideas in a field of a jewellery with amber design and broadening the knowledge about the qualities and nature of Baltic amber. The object is a design of a necklace or a pendant inspired by the subject of the contest, in which amber will play the essential role. The designs must reach the head office of the organizer by a non-extendible date of 26th January. The session of the jury is planned to take place on 2 nd February and the members of the jury are: Mariusz Drapikowski – a jewellery and goldsmith’s objects designer (Gdansk), Naomi Filmer – a jewellery designer and a lecturer of Central St. Martins College of Art And Design (London), Wilhelm Tasso Mattar – a jewellery designer (Majorca), professor Andrzej Pniewski – an interior designer, the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the Academy of Fine Arts (Gdansk) and Ewa Zaremska-Czarny – a painter and a jewellery designer (Warsaw). The Jury will award prizes and distinctions and will qualify the works for presentation in the catalogue and at the exhibition, guided by artistic criteria. The jury will take into account mainly the following criteria: a conceptual and creative interpretation of the topic, the artistic and aesthetic values of the designed jewellery and original use of amber, taking into consideration the specific qualities of this and other proposed materials. The following prizes will be awarded: the Mayor of the City of Gdansk Prize – PLN 10 000, the Amber Prize of the International Amber Association – 2 kg of amber and the Silver Prize of the YES company – 3 kg of silver. The awarded designs and the designs qualified by the jury will be presented during the 15 th International Fair of Amber, Jewellery and Gemstones AMBERIF 2008 in Gdansk between 11 th and 15 th March 2008 in Gdansk.
THE TALISMAN
The intention behind this year’s topic is to draw jewellery artists’ attention to the emotional and personal nature of jewellery objects. Referring to the archetype of jewellery as a object of a ritual, magical and cult nature, we can see in the history of jewellery innumerable spectacular examples of talismans and amulets, which became the source of legends related to specific people or events. In the times when jewellery was something more than just a ring, an earring or a bracelet each of its elements had a symbolic meaning both for its owner and for their milieu. Talismans were often worn in hiding, while their form, elaborate make, ornamentation or the use of materials considered to be valuable served first and foremost to emphasise their symbolic meaning. Every historical era had objects of worship to which offerings were made, people believed in their power and even influenced the life decisions of individuals and communities. The symbols of the sun and the moon, which have their counterparts in zodiac signs, the alchemic inscriptions of gold, mercury and lead, heraldic motifs, relics of saints, religious symbols, arrangements of geometrical figures or figural depictions and the power which stemmed from them and which was encoded by the appropriate use of a specific shape, ornament, alloy or gemstone were to provide the jewellery wearer with protection, success or the strength necessary to overcome adversities. The belief in the supernatural power of certain suggestions, both in the positive and the negative sense, still remains alive today. It is enough to mention innocent superstitions and rituals concerning black cats, the number 13, broken mirrors, chimney sweepers and four-leaf clovers through to the placebo psychological trick used in medicine to recognise the strength of the symbols we keep in our subconscious.
Ostensibly, it may seen that today jewellery does not play such an important role anymore and has become but an impersonal accessory supplementing the no less impersonal image of its wearers. However, it is enough to analyse contemporary advertisements for jewellery products to notice that their producers consistently refer to the emotional. Isn’t it that the logos, which the producers of all material goods, especially jewellery, mark their products with have become today’s talismans expecting us to believe that the most important component of their price is their “added value”?
The topic of The Talisman seems to be open to ambiguous interpretation, leading one to “dig into the archaeology” of the meaning of jewellery long ago and provoking critical analysis of its contemporary context. Amber, a material found in Neolithic tombs, prized in Ancient Greece and Rome, which provided inspiration for magnificent masterpieces of craftsmanship in the baroque period, has now been rediscovered by designers and artists, not only for its ornamental merits: like few other materials in history, it is predestined to become a pretext for original interpretations of this year’s topic.
What should the contemporary amber talisman be then?
Dr. Slawomir Fijalkowski
The rules (Word)
Entry Form (Word)
More informations about Amberif Design Award:
Amberif Design Award
Photo: Angelina Stoykova - Grand Prix Amberif Design Award 2007 2007-11-15 |
