SIAJ Slovenian Association of Jewellers

SIAJ - Slovenian Association of Jewellers is a non-profit cultural organization founded in 2021 aimed at promoting contemporary jewellery, fostering the exchange of ideas and experiences, and developing of theoretical and practical projects within the international and national art field.

SIAJ was founded in Ljubljana within the community of jewellery designers. They wanted an association where they could create projects, develop exchanges and launch new platforms for a discipline that increasingly calls for professional development. The situation of jewellery designers in Slovenia is somewhat different/difficult. There are no schools or universities and no institution or association specifically dedicated to this discipline. People who wish to educate themselves have to go abroad or acquire this knowledge through a long, independent path. In spite of these challenges, Slovenian designers have found a way through SIAJ to connect with one another and collaborate. In addition to organizing exhibitions and inviting foreign artists, SIAJ helps jewellery designers to partner with schools and open up to youth through various presentations and courses.

SIAJ was created to educate, develop and promote the art of contemporary jewellery. In order to achieve its aims, SIAJ has set out plans:

- to promote training courses and other pedagogical activities;
- to organise conferences, seminars, masterclasses, artistic residencies and exhibitions;
- to undertake actions that appeal to new audiences;
- to set up partnerships and projects for artistic and cultural interchanges;
- to publish articles, books, catalogues and videos;
- to experiment with new materials and technologies.
- to preserve, and study the historical heritage.

SIAJ encourages and supports all initiatives aimed at the exchange of information, experimentation, training, and establishing connections among members, both online through the community and in practice through work groups that freely get together to carry out projects, produce documents and develop specific themes. SIAJ adheres to an ethics code that respects individuals and the environment, following a conceptual methodology focused on the improvement of quality through the collection of information and the analysis of results.

The founding members of SIAJ are Olga Košica, Urška Košica and Rok Marinšek, as well as the support of other individuals who are passionate about contemporary jewellery.

The main objectives are to organize workshops, training activities, and other pedagogical activities in contemporary jewellery and to organize meetings, debates, seminars, residencies, exhibitions, and other cultural, national, and international initiatives.

Slovenian Jewelry Week - SIJW is at the heart of achieving these goals.

In 2022, the first Slovenian Jewelry Week took place. A pilot project. Our goal was to successfully bring together and present selected domestic designers of contemporary jewellery to the general public.

Visitors expressed their enthusiasm for learning about contemporary jewellery design, what materials and techniques are used, how it is made, what new technologies are available, what new design approaches are available, what conceptual jewellery is, what sustainable jewellery is, and so on and so forth.

The program included 37 jewellery designers who were part of exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, and workshops across 12 locations in Slovenia, over seven days. As part of SIJW's first year of activity, we established a common platform for contemporary jewellery designers in Slovenia and established cooperative relationships with educational and cultural institutions.