Philip Sajet: Beauty is the Most Important

Artist list

Philip Sajet

There is another show in the About the Artist cycle, which presented distinguished personalities in jewellery: a retrospective exhibition of the well known Dutch artist, a graduate from Rietveld Academi in Amsterdam (under prof.Francesco Pavan), a lecturer at many Universities. His works have been exhibited all over the Europe, as well as in USA and Japan, and are included in the collections of many museums and galleries.

Philip Sajet tries, through goldsmithery, to combine the incompatible in his pieces. Thus the sharp glass shard penetrates the round metal setting of the ring, a green stone butts up against the delicate pearl, a classically cut, precious stone is sawn through and put back together. This is not about the destruction or extraction of something fragile but about emphasising that the one is not possible without the other. Harmony, balance comes through the combination of the various elements. Shells, a fragile and delicate material, used by man as jewellery for thousands of years, are combined by Sajet into a stole which can be seen in the accompanying photograph magnificently adorning a naked body, to which it lends an unassailable aura, like armour. The intangible, elusive glitter of a cut stone is replaced with metallic constructions which mimic it and turn the gentle glimmers into thorns. In the earrings the facets are imitated, but only the edges and not the light which emanates from gemstones. Small stones in their natural state are found at the connections, brightening the cool, aloof construction. Tiny and raw, they breathe life into the piece.

Sajet’s jewellery has a unique, distinctive use of form but it is made to be worn and through wearing to change its impact, breaking free from its artist-creator and developing its own life. The wearer too will change on wearing the piece, as it connects to his or her personality and deliberately draws in the attention of a third party, the beholder. In this light it is hardly surprising that Sajet has produced predominantly rings, earrings and close fitting necklaces which adorn the hands and frame and highlight the face. These are the parts of the body which stand for the expressive side of the personality; our facial expressions and gestures communicate with others, emphasise our nature, the unsaid and the said.


Philip Sajet
B. in 1953. Lives in France. Visiting professor: Academie Schone Kunsten, Utrecht, The Netherlands (1992), Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA (1992-93), Royal College of Art, London, Great Britain (1994), Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1995), Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany (2001), Hiko Mizuno College of Jewellery, Tokio, Japan (2003). Selected solo exhibitions: Ornamentum Gallery, Design Miami, USA, 2009; Villa De Bondt, Gent, Belgium, 2009; Marzee Gallery, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 2009. Selected group exhibitions: Le rouge, Agde, France, 2009; New Collection, Jewellery Arts, Staatliches Museum für Angewandte Kunst und Design der Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany, 2009; Studio GR20, Maestri Olandesi, Padova, Italy, 2008. Works in public collections: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Het Kruithuis in Den Bosch, Van Reekum Museum Apeldoorn, Arnhem Gemeente Museum, Gemeente Museum Utrecht (The Netherlands), Royal College of Art (Great Britain).