Echoes of Light and Shadow: International Contemporary Gemstone Jewellery Exhibition

Artist list

Lin Cheung, Patrícia Domingues, Min-Ling Hsieh, Tzu-Yun Hung, Julia Maria Künnap, Elias Neuspiel, Ruudt Peters, Philip Sajet, Moniek Schrijer, Pei Wu

This this exhibition invites ten international contemporary jewellery artists from seven countries and across generations. Each uses their unique vocabulary, seeking new possibilities of dialogue with the world through stones—liberating thought and form within a contemporary context. More than 50 pieces will be on display.


“A jade-green handkerchief, trimmed with white lace... the stone-chill gently nurtures a flock of silent birds as they sweep past...” This is Hualien, in the words of poet Mu Yang—a homeland watched over by the gods. Within this landscape of surreal colors, embraced by mountains and sea, lies the hidden treasure of gemstones deep in the mountains.

Decades ago, Hualien’s gemstones brought prosperity to local industry. With the passing of time, the traditional jade trade quietly declined. In the past, gemstones were perhaps regarded merely as craft or economic resources—or as supporting roles embedded in jewellery. Yet as contemporary thought has evolved, how might these local materials find their future direction?

After World War II, Europe began to reflect on power and traditional values. Jewellery ceased to be only a symbol of wealth and adornment. Inspired by Bauhaus experiments in structure and material, and by existentialism’s insights into absurdity and self-awareness, artists began to use jewellery to explore bodily experience, individual existence, and contemporary social issues—opening a new chapter in contemporary jewellery art. This spirit offers us a fresh perspective on treating the gemstones of Hualien—not merely as natural heritage, but as a cultural language.

The aim of this exhibition is not to provide answers but to pose questions: Nowadays, how might we look beyond the essence of gemstone and return to its cultural dimension? How can makers respond to the pulse of our time, transforming gemstones into vessels of personal thought, emotional expression, and social engagement? What other possibilities are there?

Echoes of Light and Shadow is the whisper time leaves upon rock, and the trace of the maker’s hands in dialogue with the earth. With this exhibition, the Hualien County Cultural Affairs Bureau seeks to transcend geographical boundaries, inviting ten international contemporary jewellery artists from seven countries and across generations. Showcasing their contemporary jewellery creations using gemstones as the medium.


Ruudt Peters from the Netherlands explores the essence of the human soul through jewellery. His vessels symbolize both the fullness and emptiness of life, weaving together diverse cultural and religious symbols to merge personal experience with universal spirituality, resulting in works that are silent yet profound.

Also from the Netherlands, Philip Sajet wanders between the contemporary and the classical, blending the present with a universal sense of beauty. His humorous and free visual language allows jewelry to transcend time and culture, forging intimate connections with its wearer.

Lin Cheung from the UK works in a style both minimal and playful, engaging with themes of value, identity, social issues, political symbols, and personal expression. Drawing on deep material knowledge, she reinterprets traditional jewellery forms, transforming everyday objects into wearable experiences of emotion and meaning.

Portuguese artist Patricia Correia Domingues captures the tension between natural and artificial materials. Her works embrace both control and unpredictability, seeing materials as vital partners in creation rather than dominated mediums.

From Estonia, Julia Maria Künnap draws on nature and everyday experience, embedding subtle, concrete experiences of life into her treatment of materials. Seemingly simple yet breaking away from traditional craftsmanship, her jewellery language is both pure and sincere.

Moniek Schrijer from New Zealand reimagines recycled materials and synthetic gemstones, fusing jewellery, sculpture, and multimedia art. With humor and critique, she questions the boundaries of object and body, surface and space—encouraging viewers to reconsider the relationship between material, environment, and perception.

Austrian artist Elias Neuspiel takes inspiration from dreams and memory. Through interaction with stone, he creates open and multilayered works that invite wearer participation, continuously evolving on the body as extensions of imagination and experience.

Taiwanese artist Tzu-Yun Hung combines materials from Taiwan and Germany, erasing their differences in origin to explore identity and transformation in cross-cultural contexts—responding to inner conflicts and reconciliation in cultural adaptation.

Pei Wu centers on family relationships and cultural pressures, using distortion and traces on material to express the entangled emotions of love and restraint. Through “glitch” in jade, she reveals hidden stories beneath surfaces.

Min-Ling Hsieh blends precious metals and jade, capturing light as it flows through metal and voids. Her works explore boundaries of interior and exterior, presence and absence, inviting contemplative perception that uncovers inner treasures, presenting a poetic fusion of material and spirit.


Ten artists, ten voices, spanning continents, come together in Hualien to leave their intersecting marks on this land. Here, gemstones are no longer static minerals but vessels carrying thought, memory, and emotion.