Learn all about Contemporary Jewelry

March 30, 2023

Contemporary jewelry is a concept that accepts many interpretations, but there has always been a question about this concept. That's why we ask ourselves, what profile must a designer meet to be considered a creator of contemporary jewelry? Today we will see in Planderful everything you need to know about contemporary jewelry.

What is contemporary jewelry?

It can be said that there are many concepts of what contemporary jewelry is, but they all agree on something and that is that this type of jewelry ventures to investigate and experiment with different materials and processes. The value of the piece focuses on the way in which the metal is treated, how it is molded, the final form of this or transferred to the jewel, and the precision of the setting and the beauty of it.

Also for some jewelers, contemporary jewelry is considered the counterpart of traditional jewelry, for its more extravagant, larger, and striking shapes out of the ordinary. For others, it is the possibility of creating objects that are distinguished by their creative process. But it has not ceased to be what traditional jewelry represents, which is the ability to adorn the body beautifully, enhancing the beauty of the person and stylizing it.

There are many people who stand out for the particular relationship they have with their jewelry, some even believe that it is not necessary that a piece of jewelry has to be created in order to wear it.

Source: https://www.jdinstitute.edu.in/what-is-contemporary-jewellery/

The influences of contemporary jewelry

This trend is largely influenced by Art Nouveau. Emerging at the end of the 19th century, this movement was characterized by originality, youthfulness, and modernity that encouraged many jewelers to create new styles and languages through jewelry. European jewelers began to accept an intermediate role between art and craftsmanship, which allowed the creation of jewelry pieces with unconventional shapes that determines the beginnings of what we know today as contemporary jewelry.

Then this fashion was inspired by the radical jewelry of the 60s, which stood out for individuality, art, creativity, and a difficult relationship with mass production. The reason for this is that this type of jewelry is both high-end jewelry and an artistic object at the same time, it is not a simple object made to be worn. It is also a type of expression of individual talent that often reflects the culture of the artist.

The most important contemporary jewelry artists

Contemporary jewelry emerged around the 1960s with artists such as Hermann Jünger (Germany), Gijs Bakker (Holland), Friedrich Becker (Germany), and David Watkins and Wendy Ramshaw (Great Britain). These artist-jewelers decided to move away from the industrial production of jewelry into a more abstract and conceptual area. They used jewelry as another field of artistic expression and sought to provoke a reaction in the viewer.

These jewelers questioned the function of jewelry and reinvented traditional techniques and materials to satisfy these concerns. As a result, their work does not respond to market demands but to personal concerns. In fact, they rejected the ergonomic nature of the jewelry, even using the human body as a support for the display of jewelry as you will see in the image below.

Source: https://www.migayo.com/blog/joyeria-contemporanea/

The contemporary jewelry market

The contemporary jewelry market works in a very similar way to that of art because it is not a large-scale market and that is why its visibility is very important when it comes to promoting it. Although it is true that this profession is evolving rapidly as it is a cross between craftsmanship, design, and art.

Contemporary jewelry is facing a major identity crisis, or rather, an image problem. This has contributed to a huge variety of personal and collective responses. This was a major obstacle to promoting contemporary jewelry and improving public opinion. If the public is not familiar with the term, they probably confuse these pieces of art with any luxury jewelry they are used to, such as jewelry by Cartier, Pomellato, and Tiffany's.

Why is the public so unfamiliar with contemporary jewelry?

These things happen for the following main reasons:

-It does not attract a sufficient number of people. There is also not a large field for jewelry design programs or at least very few in the contemporary branch. Apart from that, it is also believed that these pieces are not mass-produced.

- Contemporary jewelry can be viewed negatively because it is considered a micro profession. This means that it has very little press, very little publicity, and little budget, and consequently, it is an activity that is on the fringes of conventional jewelry.

The creators of this type of jewelry stores are rather discreet or very little inclined to look for striking publicity since they are confined to waiting for the galleries to promote their pieces to clients who are interested in them.

-There are no effective strategies for the information and promotion of the pieces in this area either. It has been speculated that, perhaps because of fear of success or contamination of the branch, this practice is mostly seen in introverted people who comply with certain stereotypes.

What is contemporary?

In short, this jewelry is a practice where everything is taken and that only pretends to be considered "jewelry" and not include the word "Contemporary", since it does not matter the meaning of the word. It doesn't matter the meaning they have because the jewelry is based on a very particular feeling.

We must go back or take a step back and be aware that since the stone age human beings used to use any kind of objects to adorn their bodies and to use them as amulets to protect themselves from the gods or any evil. Most of these pieces of jewelry were made of bones, shells, snails, teeth, branches, and even small fruits. So you shouldn't be surprised by the unconventional materials used in jewelry.