Open Call for Preziosa Young Design Competition 2020

For each edition, an international jury composed by curators, artists and critics selects a small number of young artists from all those who have submitted their candidature.
The names of the jurors who took part in the previous selections can be seen here.
Selected artists will be exhibited in specially designed exhibition spaces at PREZIOSA Exhibition, Florence Jewellery Week (www.preziosa.org).
A high-quality catalogue will be published, to introduce the selected artists with a short biography, full-colour images and a description of the work.

The selection will be based on:

• The quality of design and manufacture of the pieces;
• The contemporary use of the materials;
• The conceptual and technical innovation.

The contest provides a high level of quality, both conceptual and technical.
The participants are young professionals, who already have their own activity and a demonstrable curriculum.
Therefore, PY is not suitable for students who still attend schools or academies or recently graduated.

Participants
We invite worldwide artists, goldsmiths, silversmiths, designers and young professionals to present projects that illustrate the work in which they are currently involved. PY is not suitable for students or recently graduated. Candidates must not be more than 35 years old in 2020.

Costs
Entries are free of charge apart from the costs for the shipment and related insurance of the items to and from Florence for the selected artists.
Insurance during the exhibition (s) is at the charge of the organizer.

Materials and techniques
Items submitted for the competition can be handcrafted, or produced by machinery, in 3D technology…. It is not the manufacturing process what determines the quality of the objects. Furthermore, the objects can be made in any material.

Awards
1. Preziosa prize. The works of the selected participants will be presented in May-June 2020, in Florence, in conjunction with Florence Jewellery Week 2020, and a full-colour catalogue will be published.
2. LAO special prize. One of the selected artists is invited to Florence for a period of one to three months, as Artist in residence.
3. Inhorgenta prize. One of the selected artists is awarded free space for the participation as an exhibitor to the 2021’s edition of the fair.

Selection
The creative process, the reasons, the objectives of the candidates should be explained through the objects and the statement submitted to the jury.
The selection of the winners will be made going through the images and text submitted by the candidates. In the case that the jury deems it necessary, candidates will be requested to send objects for the final evaluation.
Privacy of the selection process.
The online registration form has been structured so as each participant will be identified by an automatically generated numerical code. The jury will have access only to the data required for the selection (images, explanatory texts, artist’s statement), but not to the name and personal data of the candidates.
Reasons for exclusion from the context
Candidate should NOT  include his name or other references to his own person in the exclusion from presentation texts (statement, description of work, captions, etc.), in order to preserve the privacy the contest process. Candidates who do not respect this rule will be disqualified from the competition.

Exhibition
The Preziosa Young exhibition will take place in Florence, conjunction with the international exhibition/conference Preziosa, Florence Jewellery Week. The organizers could also plan other exhibitions along the year: the selected artists are committed to deliver their works to all the scheduled events. The winners of the competition must send a congruous number of objects for the scheduled exhibitions, according to the number of selected participants, and according to the indications that will be given by the organizers. These pieces must be the same (or similar) to those submitted for the selection. A full-colour catalogue will be published, with CV and statement of the winners.

Shipment
The shipping costs of the pieces (for the selection and for the exhibition), from the origin to Firenze and back home must be paid by the submitters. It is up to the artists to decide whether to insure and/or send their pieces by registered mail.
Shipment from Firenze to/by other exhibition locations will be paid by the organization.


Material requested for the online registration.
1. Full name.
2. Full address.
3. Phone number (home/office/handy), with full international code and area code.
4. Email address. Please note that all communications with the candidates will be conducted by e-mail, so it will be very important to use an internationally valid internet address, such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, to avoid problems with regional/national email accounts.
5. Education/work experience.
6. Short statement (Max 3000 characters including spaces).
NOTE: Candidate should NOT include his name or other references to his own person in the presentation texts (statement, description of work, captions, etc.), in order to preserve the privacy process. Candidates who do not respect this rule will be disqualified from the competition.
7. Images of 5 objects to submit for the contest.  Each object can be illustrated with up to 5 images. Accepted files: JPG format, minimum size, 2400x1600 pixel; minimum resolution 300 DPI; Captions for each object. Captions must be in the English language, in the format as follow:
For each image:
Title. Typology. Year. Materials. Size of the object: Height, width, depth, in millimetres. Credits (photograph, collectors, others).

Example:
Purple rain. Ring, 2018.
Silver, titanium, emerald, plastics, stainless steel.
50 x 42x 38
Photo credits: Name Surname.

We suggest submitting still life images, using a white or black background. Pictures of worn pieces can be accepted only in case of obvious difficulty in photographing the objects in still life.