Contemporania, the New High Craftsmanship in the City of Barcelona

The transformation of JOYA Barcelona Art Jewellery and Objects has a new title, Contemporania High Craftsmanship Barcelona, the novel space for national and international contemporary crafts, a trade fair for artists, institutions, galleries and collectives to present and promote their creativity at the very high level. The innovation and artistic vision in contemporary craftsmanship will be presented through different types of applied arts such as ceramics, art jewelry, lacquer, metal, textiles, glass, paper and wood.
The event will be open to the general public, but also a place to network with institutions, and private and public collections. The only fair in Spain dedicated to high craftsmanship that will communicate through a large number of media, ambassadors and international collaborators.

Government of Catalonia together with Le Département will co-organize the new format, directed by Paulo Ribeiro and his team; Patryk Walczak responsible for business management, Maria Vásconez, head of communication with the press and media, and Flavio Pizzolitto, responsible for sponsors and collaborations.
 
 

The Cultural Council
 
The pieces that will be shown at the fair will be selected by a Cultural Council, and specialists from different areas of arts and crafts will choose the best portfolios and proposals. The World Craft Council Europe will be represented by Laura Miguel, Catalan Craft Center by David Places, JORGC will be represented by its president Alex Riu and the jewellery maker Sílvia Serra, Hannah Gallery by Amador Bartomeu and Leo Caballero, the company that directs and organize the fair, Le Département by the director, Paulo Ribeiro.  
 


From Joya to Contemporania
 
JOYA was an event that for 14 years showed the best art jewellery worldwide, the excellency was always the main criteria, communicating the participants internationally and having in each edition a combination with other disciplines such as fashion, art, gastronomy or alchemy. The fair during many editions had the collaboration of important events such as Schmuck, Autor Bucarest, Brazil Jewellery Week and international galleries such as Alice Floriano and mydaybyday, this joined forces will continue participating at Contemporania. The inclusion of objects in 2018 combined with art jewellery gave the possibility to show the public a wider aspect of the personal view of the participants. Contemporania is a totally new format of a fair, commissioned and with a strict selection of portfolios, the work that will be present at the show will be the best of the high craftsmanship nowadays.



Target audience of Contemporania
 
Contemporania is a professional fair made to a specialized public, as museum collection directors, gallerists and curators, but also open to the general public, the event will attract stabilised collectors and crafts lovers, other artists and also a new generation of young collectors. In the past editions of JOYA we had important gallerists attending such as Charon Kransen Arts from New York, Beyond Fashion from Antwerp, AME from Hong Kong, Eleni Marneri from Athens, Alternatives Gallery from Rome, Platina Gallery from Stockolmn, Galeria Reverso from Lisbon, Creativity Oggetti from Turin, Galerie Mazlo from Paris and Putti Gallery from Latvia. Museums were also visiting the previous editions as Victoria and Albert Museum from London, and Museo del Gioiello from Vincenza.



Arts & Crafts Market
 
The arts and crafts are on hype and in a tendency for many years, sustainability, made by hand with a new vision and a deep and personal concept is well accepted and valued in the market. The Loewe Craft Prize is a good example, artists worldwide apply each edition and the result is an excellent selection of high-quality craftsmanship. Museums and galleries are also interested in the relationship between crafts and conceptual work, the experimentation with new materials, technology and the virtual world implemented in the crafts.



Contemporania's proposal in relation to the other Arts & Crafts fairs
 
There are already important events in the sector as Collect London or Revelations Paris, the idea is to have our own identity and offer a different vision to the participants and public. The emblematic space that will be installed at the event, the city of Barcelona and the wide communication we are preparing to promote the pieces is our trade mark, in the past editions of JOYA we did fashion editorials photographed by Célia Suárez, stylised by Sylvia Bonet, conceptual videos by Wolf Kublun, a catalogue created by Diego Barcellos and articles to illustrate and talk about the pieces, concepts and creators, promoting the work internationally.



What is offered to exhibitors
 
The combination of a baroque building with minimalist and conceptual stands will create a dialogue, where the pieces will be the focus and the main element in the space. As soon as the pieces will be selected, we will make photos and videos inside the Palace to promote the event before the celebration. This will attract the public, the press and specialized professionals to visit the fair. We also have important collaborations such as the one with Hannah Gallery, Amador and Leo will make a selection of the pieces before the event and put them on sale on Klimt02.net. This type of partnership is essential to promote and give visibility the opportunity to the individual artists to have their pieces sold before the show.



New fair location
 
Palau de Pedralbes was the place chosen for the next years to celebrate the fair, the Palau was the Ceramic Museum of Barcelona in 1990, becoming the Arts & Crafts Museum in 1995. In 2004, together with the permanent collection of arts & crafts, the museum had the fashion collection and the art graphic collection, since 2014 all the permanent collections that were at the Palau are now at Disseny HUB Barcelona. The building now belongs exclusively to the Generalitat de Catalunya, and for the first time will have a high craftsmanship fair in the building. The Palau is located in the most premium neighbourhood of Barcelona, generating a new movement in arts and crafts in a specific part of town.
 


Curatorial concept
 
A Cultural Council made by specialized people from international institutions such as WCC Europe, Catalan Craft Center, JORGC together with Klimt02 team and Le Département will select in each edition the best portfolios, projects and proposals. The commission will analyse the technique, concept, innovation, identity, body of work and evolution of each participant, giving the opportunity to establish and also the new generation of creators to take part in the fair.


>> Entries must be submitted through the www.contemporania.cat until March 20, 2023.
>> Check out the Open Call at Klimt02