Gold silver steel

Artist list

Jacek Byczewsk

Jacek Byczewski – is considered to be one of the most prominent post war Goldsmith artists. He is a graduate of the Sculpting Faculty at the Warsaw Academy of Arts. His interest in jewellery design began after he finished his studies. His works have been featured in over a hundred national and international exhibitions, often times earning various honours and awards. His artistic creations have been displayed in museums and private collections around the world. Not only does he design and make jewellery but also plays an active role in the Poland’s Goldsmithing Artist Association as the Chairman of the Programming Council, is a jury member at jewellery artisan’s competition and is an expert for the Ministry of Culture.

The continuing evolution and development of Mr. Byczewski’s art is readily visible in his works throughout his 30-year career. His first designs were influenced by his sculpting education, whereas later works drew more directly upon his extraordinary creativity and highly innovative ideas. His creations always astonish and delight the public.

Like the archetypal image of the egg, the perfect symbol of life’s origins, so too did his early work embrace this powerful visual, three-dimensional, image in creations more like sculpture than mere “jewellery”.

Later he experimented with the colouring of aluminium, the resilience of wires and later on the use of stainless steel. Almost as a “creative hobby” or unique design “experiment”, he astonished everyone with a “Do it yourself” jewellery collection (design elements that can be uniquely reconfigured to form ever different types of bracelet’s, necklaces, rings, etc.) and also a very ingenious set of tableware accessories (silver salt-n-pepper shakers, a silver decorative bowl, etc.). This capacity to blend both utility and beauty in the creation of unique objects for everyday use is a source of inspiration for Jacek and constitutes a promising area of potential future work.

Jacek often merges a variety of precious metals (14 & 18 carat golds) with stainless steel in his designs. He avoids plain polished surfaces, favouring and featuring rather more textured or matted “steely” type textures. In his jewellery, Jacek designs and implements many new and unconventional ways of setting diamond-cut gemstones, for example, he places his gemstones inside golden cages instead of firmly mounting them. Various types and shapes of cages contain not only one gemstone but sometimes several stones that move inside the cage; playing with the light. All of this while honouring his fantastic sense of proportion, colour agreement and finishing textures.

His recent idea is attaching a gemstone by mounting it directly upon a post and either revealing and thus integrating the metal of the post itself in the center of the precious stone’s upper surface or alternatively by capping the recessed post with another gemstone of accenting colour.

Given the great diversity in Jacek’s creative output through the years, one is amazed to find such a cohesive design style, literally his unique artistic signature, evident each and every creation.

Andrzej Bielak
Kraków, maj 2006