Lynchburg, VA, US—We are pleased to introduce Aaron Decker as the newest member of AJF’s board.
Art Jewelry Forum’s board of directors is composed of an international group of thinkers, creators, and appreciators of the field of art jewelry. They guide our organizational activities and keep our mission to advocate for contemporary art jewelry at the center of all that we do. To see the full roster of AJF’s board of directors and their roles in the organization, please visit this page on our website.
Decker has previously served on AJF’s Editorial Advisory Committee. Susan Cummins, the founder of AJF, describes him as a talented and enthusiastic organizer. “He is a valued voice,” Cummins said, “and hopefully the first of many new members of a younger age.”
Aaron Decker is an American jeweler and enamelist based in Ypsilanti, MI, US, home to Rosie the Riveter and a legacy of wartime industry that mirrors his own upbringing on military bases across the United States. That history—and its culture of making—continues to inform his work. A close relationship with his grandfather, a clocksmith, led Decker to pursue jewelry. After completing undergraduate studies and international residencies, he graduated from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2015. He spent the next decade working as a senior designer for a luxury watch company, developing a rigorous approach to precision, material, and systems of production before establishing his own independent studio. Working from his studio in Ypsilanti, Decker produces jewelry that balances industrial logic with hand process. His work has been recognized through awards and fellowships, including the Mercedes-Benz Emerging Artist Award, the Windgate Fellowship, and the Marzee Graduate Prize, and has been exhibited internationally. His jewelry is held in both private and public collections.
About AJF
Art Jewelry Forum is a nonprofit organization spreading awareness and increasing appreciation of art jewelry worldwide since 1997. Its diverse community of artists, collectors, critics, educators, galleries, historians, makers, and writers is united by a passion for art jewelry. AJF advocates for art jewelry through an ambitious agenda of education, conversation, and financial support. It commissions critical writing that sets the standard for excellence in the field, and publishes artjewelryforum.org, an Internet resource for original content on art jewelry.
