Noon Passama: Emerging Artist Award Winner

Artist list

Noon Passama Sanpatchayapong

Art Jewelry Forum names 2012 Emerging Artist Award Winner 
Noon Passama Sanpatchayapong. Thai jewelry designer joins forces with Belgian fashion house 
Capara to create prize-winning collection 

Art Jewelry Forum - The top American prize for an emerging art jeweler has been awarded to Noon Passama Sanpatchayapong, a Thai designer currently studying in The Netherlands. In recognition of her originality, depth of concept, and quality of craftsmanship, Passama will be receiving a cash award of $7500 US from the Art Jewelry Forum and will be exhibited by Gallerie Ra at the 2013 Collect art fair in London.
 
The winning collection is a rare collaboration between an art jeweler and fashion designers. Noon Passama partnered with Capara, an Antwerp-based clothing line founded by sisters Vera and Olivera Capara. The Capara product is presented through video, photographs, or installation during women's fashion week in Paris. The Capara sisters collaborate with different artists to add other objects, such as furniture and art, to their clothing collections. The necklaces Noon Passama submitted to AJF were part of Capara's Spring/Summer 2012 Collection Favorite Dreams.
 
Noon Passama's jewelry attracts worldwide attention. It has been exhibited in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Florence, London, Melbourne, Munich, Paris, Seoul, and Zurich and featured in major fashion magazines, such as Blend, Dazed and Confused (Japan), Items, L'Official Homme (China), Surface, Vogue (Italy and Turkey), Vogue Gioiello, Wallpaper, and Zoo. Music artist Rihanna wore a Passama necklace in the music video for Te Amo. Still less than 30 years old, Passama traverses the worlds of art jewelry and fashion with ease. The AJF award celebrates her achievement, her talent, and her promise.
 

"The chain is the classic backbone of the jewelry field," says Art Jewelry Forum Emerging Artist Award juror Marjan Unger. "Everything that matters in a good chain lies in one element and the way it links with its neighbors. The series of chains Noon Passama developed is beautiful in its basic shapes and its proportions. It is a brave subject to choose. It takes a very good artist to reach this level of expression within all the limits of a chain, and to add something worthwhile to a very long history."