Contemporary Jewelry is Not A Look–Its a Way of Thinking

Contemporary jewelry represents a specific approach for thinking through design. Making jewelry is, in essence, an authentic performance task. The jewelry artisan applies knowledge, skill, and awareness in anticipation of the influence and constraints of a set of shared understandings. Shared understandings relate to composition, construction, and performance. These understandings are enduring, transferable, big ideas at the heart of what we think of as “contemporary jewelry.” They are things which spark meaningful connections between designer and materials, designer and techniques, and designer and client. Managing these connections is what we call “fluency in design.”