Amberif Design Award Winners 2025

This year’s edition gathered a record number of 250 participants from 34 countries, who submitted a total of 365 works.

The theme for the 2025 edition was Relations:
The modern world, although diverse, is strongly interconnected on many levels. Relationships are the foundation of existence, an inherent element of life, permeating every dimension.
Interpersonal relationships, relationships between humans and nature, humans and technology, individuals and communities, as well as deep, often unconscious ties between the past and the present - all this contributes to our experience of being in the world.
Relationships characterize our lives: initially those with parents, siblings and extended family, later those with friends, partners, and the community. They shape our identity, attitudes, emotions and values. They are like a delicate thread that connects us with others, creating a complex network of relationships.
Jewelry as a personal item can be a symbol of these bonds. We often reveal our attachment through jewelry; it is a sign of belonging to a group, family or life partner. Sometimes they are obvious codes, sometimes they are secret, very personal signs.


Competition results:

• Grand Prix – award of the Mayor of the City of Gdansk: Fumiko Gotô (Switzerland) for the brooch Of Shadows,
• Silver Award – award of the Gdansk International Fair Co.: Karol Zagórowski (Poland) for the ring Good Joke.
• Amber Award – award of the International Amber Association: Gabriela Kozłowska (Poland) for the ear jewellery My Innermost Voice.
• Honorable mentions of the Yes Gallery: Julita Dąbrowska & Duchna Łosiak (Poland) for the earring Vulcano and Emilia Kohut (Poland) for the object I LUV Y.

The Jury:

• Malte Guttek (Germany). Managing director of the Society of Goldsmiths (Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst eV) and head of the German Goldsmiths' House (Goldschmiedehaus) in Hanau, one of the most important exhibition centers of goldsmiths' art in Germany. Graduate of the Institute of Art History in Bonn.
• Yutaka Minehishi (Japan). Artist, jewelry creator. A graduate of the Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry in Tokyo (major: metal crafts) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He obtained his diploma in 2003 under the supervision of Professor Otto Künzli. Author of individual exhibitions in Munich and Tokyo, participant of many international group exhibitions. Winner of the Munich Art Prize (2017) and the Herbert Hoffman Award (2019).
• Bryna Pomp (USA). Director/curator of MAD About Jewelry at the Museum of Art and Design in New York (since 2011), previously known as "LOOT", an annual sales exhibition presenting the work of the most innovative contemporary jewelry creators in the world. An internationally recognized expert, curator and collector of contemporary jewelry, a graduate of art history and French at Wheaton College. During her long career, fully dedicated to the field of jewelry, she has developed the ability to discover unique artistic works that combine craftsmanship, creativity and innovation.
• Magdalena Szadkowska (Poland). A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts. Władysław Strzemiński in Łódź, where she obtained a master's degree (2023) and a doctor of art (2020) at the Jewelry Institute. A graduate of Museum Curatorial Postgraduate Studies in contemporary art at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (2011). An interdisciplinary artist who combines artistic and design fields: sculpture, jewelry, unique objects, interior textiles and clothing. Lecturer at the Institute of Sculpture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Studio of Sculpture and Activities in Intermedia Space.
• Olga Zobel (Germany). Founder and owner of Galerie Biró (since 1992), presenting the achievements of leading representatives of contemporary artistic jewelry. Graduate of history, ethnology and art history at the University of Munich. An expert in the field of unique jewelry, a collector.

The jury's task was to select 26 works for the exhibition and to award prizes: The Grand Prix of the competition, the Silver Prize and the Amber Pirce.

Artists selected for the exhibition:
Tanin Dehkhoda, Elsa de Graef, Alberto Dávila Quesada, Natascha Frechen, Maciej Furtok, Fumiko Gotô, Hamid Ja'fari, Ji Young Kim, Yoojung Kim, Emilia Kohut, Gabriela Kozłowska, Andrzej Kupniewski, Maja Latour, Monika Lewandowska, Julita Dąbrowska & Duchna Łosiak, Mohammad Amin Mahmoudzadeh, Stephie Morawetz, Julia Obermeier, Victor Pavlov, Robert Pigoń, Sanna Svedestedt, Martyna Szczotka, Sława Tchórzewska, Mikołaj Tymoszuk, Yasmin Zehavi, Karol Zagórowski.