Shengyi Chen. Winner of the Klimt02 JPlus Emerging Talent Award 2018

This is the Fourth edition of the Klimt02 JPLUS Emerging Talent Award.

View all the works, schools and teachers of the selected graduates of the 2018 edition

The winner of the JPLUS Emerging Talent Award 2018 is Shengyi Chen, graduated with a BA Degree project Jewelry Art at Central Saint Martins, BA (Hons) Jewellery Design, London, where he has studied under Professor Caroline Broadhead.

The prize consists of a professional jeweller profile at klimt02.net and an exhibition at Hannah Gallery Barcelona by Klimt02.

Klimt02 team and Lucy Ganley, winner of the 2017 edition, decided to award Shengyi Chen for the bold and bright symbols of everyday life with a sarcastic and dark proportion. His political examination of the 2017 events and the translation of it into jewellery make us wonder how such negative feelings and such, for many of us painful experiences can look so appealing and meanwhile challenging our thoughts on this events. The collection is executed in an exceptional way of showcasing Shengyi's design and craftsmanship.


Caroline Broadhead Professor at school state:
Shengyi’s collection of jewellery reminds us of the capacity of jewellery to be a vehicle for strong ideas and political attitudes.
Outrages at recent events, Shengyi has used humor, in the same way as cartoonist do, to lampoon and satirize the inconsistencies and shortcomings of politicians, and made a series of works that address the scandals, the media campaigns, American attitudes to gun control and the potential trade war between China and the US.
This is sharp work created with a keen eye and strong feelings of politics going wrong and potentially dangerously so. It is reassuring to know that attitudes towards current issues can be translated into and communicated through wonderfully thought through pieces of jewellery.


Shengyi Chen state:
For many people, 2017 has been a very disturbing year, Political divisions in the UK and USA have created an atmosphere of anxiety and distrust. In the wake of the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, the election’s unexpected outcome was still too raw, the perceived wound too fresh, for lots of people to put their emotions into words. For others, the chance to reflect on Hillary Clinton’s loss and its ramifications was a chance for catharsis. This means that, for many, the healing power of the arts can offer a way forward as we look to fix a deeply divided and possibly broken world.

From the outrage that followed Donald Trump’s toxic and aggressively sexist and racist admission. Lots of anti-trump campaigns have been launched in the past year. From the vision of Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman, the pussycat project was established in advance of Women’s March in Washington in January 2017. The Pussyhat has become the most visually effective and internationally recognized symbol of an anti-trump movement. Inspired by this, I set out to find the possible fine line between Trump and Jewellery Design.

Trump dominates the conversation, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy since everyone believes that the only way to get attention is to talk about Trump, so they talk about Trump. There’s been no shortage of attention given to President Donald Trump’s news. By keeping track of his news items, such as the trade wars between China and the USA, the air attack to Syria, his massive scandals, his indiscreet Twitter posts and issues of data privacy etc, I realized that the best way to connect Trump with jewellery design was through black humor. By turning political events into black comedic, wearable pieces, my collection examines the socio-political issues occurring under Donald Trump’s presidency, questioning the validity and integrity of his position as leader of the USA.


More works and contact:
Instagram: @shengyi__chen
Email: csy199631@gmail.com


The exhibition will be on show at Hannah Gallery from 13th February to 8th March 2019.

We would like to thank all participating students, teachers and staff members for your collaboration and the high level of the presented works and encourage all of you to apply for the 2019, Fifth edition.

Very soon we will launch the 5th edition of the Klimt02 JPLUS Emerging Talent Award 2019 with the guest jury, deadline, and detailed conditions.