Florence Jewellery Week 2020. The Main Guests and Locations

It is easy to praise the greatness of Florentine goldsmithing over the centuries that have made it majestic in the eyes of the world. Eternal figures such as Benvenuto Cellini exert a strong appeal for rivers of tourists that pour every day into the places of art of the Renaissance capital, with the unique desire to be amazed by those masterpieces whose excellence is now considered unreachable. It is thought, at least if you have not yet had the opportunity to know, for example, the work of the master goldsmith Giovanni Corvaja. He is able to reduce the noblest metal into threads as thin as the size of a fifth of hair and to collect them together, to make them into fur, so thick as to get the softness of the legendary Golden Fleece.


Giovanni Corvaja, Headpiece, The Golden Fleece, 18kt gold, 22kt gold, 2008-2009, 27 x 27 x 35​ cm


If you come to Florence between 28^th May and 4^th June, during the Florence Jewellery Week 2020, Corvaja will not be the only one to bewitch you. This event, completely devoted to the promotion of contemporary jewellery, aims to celebrate the expressive potential of body ornament, vehicle for artistic experimentation, historically and intimately linked to the human being. FJW, conceived and managed by Le Arti Orafe, the first Italian school of contemporary jewellery founded in 1985 by Giò Carbone, provides a rich schedule of conferences, workshops and collateral events, in which experts of the field will participate.


Suk Chun Oh, Bottle and Cups, Bottle: silver, Copper, Cups: silver, Copper, gold, leaf, 5 x 5 x 10 cm & 3,8 x 3,8 x 4,6 cm


Suk Chun Oh, Cups, Copper, gold leaf, 6,5 x 6,5 x 7 cm


Alongside the exhibition of great masters, such as Kazumi Nagano, Carla Riccoboni, Barbara Paganin, Suk Chun Oh, Sam Tho Duong, Cóilín Ó Dubhghaill, jewellery pieces from private collections of historical supporters of this form of art. From the Karl & Heidi Bollmann collection, masterpieces by Manfred Bischoff, Peter Chang, Yasuki Hiramatsu, Fritz Maierhofer, Bruno Martinazzi, Francesco Pavan, Ruudt Peters, Gerd Rothmann, Peter Skubic.


Kazumi Nagano, Brooch, Horse Hair, Gold Thread (18ct), Nylon Thread, 950Silver, 8 x 8 x 6 cm, Photo by Ryota Sekiguchi


Kazumi Nagano, Brooch, Horse Hair, Gold Thread (18ct), Nylon Thread, 950Silver, 7 x 8 x 3 cm, Photo by Ryota Sekiguchi


While, from the collections Pilar Garrigosa and the Paul Derrez other big names, like Giampaolo Babetto, Gijs Bakker, Caroline Broadhead, Warwick Freeman, Marion Herbst, Maria Rosa Franzin, Carla GarciaDurante, Gilles Jonemann, Otto Kunzli, Xavier Monclus, Ted Noten, Barbara Stutman, Lisa Walker, Annamaria Zanella, Brand Zoe and Garrigosa herself.


Barbara Paganin, Brooch, Sotto il cavolo, 2015, Oxidized silver, porcelain, glass, gold, 10,2 x 8 x 2,8 cm, ​Photo by Michele Zanin


Barbara Paganin, Necklace, Memoria Aperta n.5, 2011 - 2013, Oxidized silver, photography, porcelain, glass, sapphire, gold, 93 x 4 x 2​ cm, Photo by Alice Pavesi Fiori


Moreover, the complete exhibition of the seven winners of Preziosa Young 2020 competition will be displayed. That contest, organized by LAO, supports emerging talents every year, promoting the new creative horizons of contemporary jewellery. Tradition and novelty, ethics of recycling, cultural identity are the keywords of this great event that will take place in the historic buildings (the former refectory inside the Santa Maria Novella museum complex, the Bardini Museum, the Guidi house-museum) and the art galleries in Oltrarno (Galleria del Palazzo, Cartavetra, Tobian Art, Frascione Art gallery).

In the two middle days of the event, there will be conferences and meetings with artists, curators, critics, gallery owners from different countries. Above all, the participation of goldsmith artists from all over the world will make you reflect on the happiness of the artistic achievements when open to any form of cultural contamination.

For more information about the event, visit the Website of Preziosa.
 

About the author

Alice Rendon was born in 1991 in Varese, Lombardy, Italy. She graduated in art history at the University of Florence with a thesis about jewels by Italian artists of the 20th century. Now she is teaching history of contemporary jewellery at Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School in Florence and she is writing for Preziosa Blog, a web platform dedicated to the universe of contemporary jewellery."