Growing Gems. When gemstones become a creative language at Romanian Jewelry Week

At Romanian Jewelry Week 2026, the new Growing Gems section brings together artists who are redefining gemstone cutting as an artistic and conceptual practice. From traditional techniques to radical material experiments, the section explores how stones can become more than precious elements in a jewel, they can become the starting point, the material and the idea itself.

Contemporary jewelry is beginning to create and claim a new territory: the creative cutting of precious stones…The artist’s first relationship began with stone. The oldest known artefacts are beads made of bone and stone. It is that important for Homo sapiens to make jewelry. David Sandu, curator and founder of Romanian Jewelry Week.