Jewelry of Ideas. The Susan Grant Lewin Collection.

Versión en Español - Spanish version      

The consummate Susan Grant Lewin Collection – recently donated to Cooper Hewitt – captures the diversity and achievements of contemporary art jewellery with nearly 150 significant works from the last 15 years by designers from the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The brooches, necklaces and rings reveal how these contemporary jewelers have revolutionised the medium in transforming jewellery conventions in expressions of our time. Descriptions of specific works demonstrate that while the mastery of materials and techniques is critical to the creative process, it is not an end in itself, but only the means to accomplish an aesthetic vision. Process statements from each designer and a full gallery of the jewellery accompany the narrative sequence of extraordinary, stirring, uncommon pieces.

With numerous large-format illustrations as well as an essay by the renowned jewellery expert Ursula Ilse-Neuman, the publication presents highlights in art jewellery since the mid twentieth century. An index provides additional small illustrations of every object alongside an in-depth description, and commentaries on each artist reveal that virtuosic command of material and technique – although decisive for the creative process – is no end in itself, rather the means of expression of an aesthetic vision.

Text in English.

Among the more than 100 featured designers are Giampaolo Babetto, Gijs Bakker, Friedrich Becker, David Bielander, Iris Eichenberg, Eva Eisler, Sandra Enterline, Arline Fisch, Thomas Gentille, Herman Hermsen, John Iversen, Daniel Jocz, Hermann Jünger, Jiro Kamata, Otto Künzli, Bruno Martinazzi, Bruce Metcalf, Dorothea Prühl, Wendy Ramshaw, Joyce Scott, Kiff Slemmons and Art Smith.

About the Collector:
With over twenty years as a journalist, Susan Grant Lewin cut her design teeth as Design Editor of Home Furnishings Daily and then as Senior Editor of Design and Architecture at House Beautiful Magazine.
Her close ties to the leaders of the architecture and design world enabled her to segue seamlessly into her position as Global Creative Director of Formica Corporation. Her strategy to reposition the seventy-five year-old company was to commission new works utilizing the talents of the leading designers of the time. This was the beginning of using product demonstrations by designers to elevate a company’s reputation. She curated several exhibitions including 'Surface and Ornament', which traveled globally, and 'Material Evidence', which originated at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Two of the winners of the 'Surface and Ornament' competition were jewelers Bob Ebendorf and Ivy Ross. They charted the course of Lewin’s interest in American jewellery. She commissioned artists to create jewellery for Formica, resulting in an exhibition. This deepened her interest in jewelry beyond Formica and led her to study the field.
After Formica, she founded her own public relations firm. Among her clients are some of the most talented designers and architects including James Dyson, Steven Holl, Charles Gwathmey, Michael Graves, and many others.

About the Author:
Ursula Ilse-Neumanis an independent curator, author, and lecturer specialising in contemporary art jewellery. She is consulting curator for the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, where, as curator from 1992 to 2014, she organized more than forty exhibitions in all media.
She has been a juror for national and international exhibitions, including the Schmuck (Munich) and the International Jewelry Expo (Shanghai) and is a regular contributor to Metalsmith magazine. Ilse-Neuman has lectured widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In 2011,
she was invited to curate the American section of “Abhushan” in New Delhi, organized by the World Craft Council. She is author of our publication Linda MacNeil. Jewels of Glass (ISBN 978-3-89790-471-2)


Exhibition: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York (US), 17.11.2017–28.5.2018.