During Schmuck, we presented AJF in Conversation: Collecting—The Next Generation. Gallerist and curator Christian Hoedl moderated the discussion. The panelists were:
- Artist and educator Mallory Weston, who teaches jewelry at Tyler School of Art and Architecture
- Joya organizer Paulo Ribeiro
- Collectors and life partners Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens. Harnie studied jewelry making at university. He works as a book seller, and Pellens is in lighting retail
We recorded the event, which took place on July 9, 2022, in Galerie Handwerk’s auditorium. This photo essay pulls out the key talking points from the panel, accompanied by photos of pieces in the speakers’ collections, which you can’t clearly see in the video. You can watch the video here … so you have two ways of getting similar information. Click on the photos to learn about what they show.
Thank you so much to all who participated!
![“He was so excited!” Pellens said, and started imitating Harnie. “[Gasp!] You bought me a Märta Mattson! Really! Oh my god!” Pellens thinks the brooch cost only 100 euros. “It was kind of a selfish present for him”—he pointed to Harnie—“because I now wear it, too, of course!” The panelists and the audience laughed. “Since then we’ve bought a few of her pieces. We’re huge fans.” | Märta Mattsson, Untitled, brooch, collection of Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens, photo courtesy of Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens. The brooch on the right is a recent purchase](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Harnie-Pellens-7-800-x-600.png "“He was so excited!” Pellens said, and started imitating Harnie. “[Gasp!] You bought me a Märta Mattson! Really! Oh my god!” Pellens thinks the brooch cost only 100 euros. “It was kind of a selfish present for him”—he pointed to Harnie—“because I now wear it, too, of course!” The panelists and the audience laughed. “Since then we’ve bought a few of her pieces. We’re huge fans.” | Märta Mattsson, Untitled, brooch, collection of Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens, photo courtesy of Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens. The brooch on the right is a recent purchase")
![Paulo Ribeiro went next. “I started Joya in 2009, and it took me three years to buy my first piece.” Ribeiro originally saw himself more as an organizer than as someone who would own art jewelry. That changed when he went to a Klimt02 exhibition in Barcelona. “I bought a piece by Mark Monzo. It was a very small brooch. White. Simple. Because at that time [...] I was kind of scared of wearing jewelry." It's not something men are accustomed to doing. | (Left) JOYA 2018 Party: Artemis Valsamaki, Untitled, brooch, copper, silver, acrylic pigment, (right) JOYA Press Presentation 2012: Marc Monzó, Untitled, brooch silver, paint, (both photos) collection of Paulo Ribeiro, photos courtesy of Paulo Ribeiro](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/P-Ribeiro-4-800-x-600.png "Paulo Ribeiro went next. “I started Joya in 2009, and it took me three years to buy my first piece.” Ribeiro originally saw himself more as an organizer than as someone who would own art jewelry. That changed when he went to a Klimt02 exhibition in Barcelona. “I bought a piece by Mark Monzo. It was a very small brooch. White. Simple. Because at that time [...] I was kind of scared of wearing jewelry.\" It's not something men are accustomed to doing. | (Left) JOYA 2018 Party: Artemis Valsamaki, Untitled, brooch, copper, silver, acrylic pigment, (right) JOYA Press Presentation 2012: Marc Monzó, Untitled, brooch silver, paint, (both photos) collection of Paulo Ribeiro, photos courtesy of Paulo Ribeiro")
![Mallory Weston thinks she bought her first piece in 2009. She and friends who studied jewelry-making traveled to Munich to attend Schmuck for the first time and heard about an opening at Galerie Spektrum. There, Weston saw a selection of work at a lower price point. “There was a series of pieces by Herman Hermsen. They were a little bit cheaper, about 40 euros, these brooches that were vacu-formed and had gemstone shapes in them. My friends and I saw these and we were so excited, it was one thing we could afford from [everything] on view, besides books!” | Weston's first purchase: a brooch by Herman Hermsen, photo courtesy of Mallory Weston](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG_4154-800-x-600.jpg "Mallory Weston thinks she bought her first piece in 2009. She and friends who studied jewelry-making traveled to Munich to attend Schmuck for the first time and heard about an opening at Galerie Spektrum. There, Weston saw a selection of work at a lower price point. “There was a series of pieces by Herman Hermsen. They were a little bit cheaper, about 40 euros, these brooches that were vacu-formed and had gemstone shapes in them. My friends and I saw these and we were so excited, it was one thing we could afford from [everything] on view, besides books!” | Weston's first purchase: a brooch by Herman Hermsen, photo courtesy of Mallory Weston")
![Ribeiro takes a different approach. “When I buy something, I have two lines, very clear. One is the award winners of Joya or any other event that I’m associated with. It's part of the memory of being in this time with this artist with this collection and buying something because [the maker] was an awarded artist.” The other approach is more instinctive. “It's more related with my emotion. If this piece drives me to buy it and to have it and I can afford it.” But the purchasing styles are related, he notes. Even with an award-winning artist, he only buys something that he feels is right for him. | (Left) Book Broches from Nicolas Estrada, 2017: Yiota Vogli, Untitled, brooch, paper pulp, acrylics, hand-plated silver on nickel silver and brass, (right) KLIMT02 Interview 2020: Jamie Chung, Untitled, brooch, brass, pigments, (both photos) collection of Paulo Ribeiro, photos courtesy of Paulo Ribeiro](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/P-Ribeiro-2-800-x-600.png "Ribeiro takes a different approach. “When I buy something, I have two lines, very clear. One is the award winners of Joya or any other event that I’m associated with. It's part of the memory of being in this time with this artist with this collection and buying something because [the maker] was an awarded artist.” The other approach is more instinctive. “It's more related with my emotion. If this piece drives me to buy it and to have it and I can afford it.” But the purchasing styles are related, he notes. Even with an award-winning artist, he only buys something that he feels is right for him. | (Left) Book Broches from Nicolas Estrada, 2017: Yiota Vogli, Untitled, brooch, paper pulp, acrylics, hand-plated silver on nickel silver and brass, (right) KLIMT02 Interview 2020: Jamie Chung, Untitled, brooch, brass, pigments, (both photos) collection of Paulo Ribeiro, photos courtesy of Paulo Ribeiro")
![So, summarized Hoedl, the panelists have a connection with or fall in love with the work. They don’t dislike it or feel disturbed by it. But he went on to describe a collector who has a different approach to collecting. “He’s always driven by things which totally bring him out of his [comfort zone] and make him really nervous and bring up lots of questions. It’s a highly interesting energy, to transform himself.” As a maker and as a curator and gallerist, Hoedl considers this a strong attitude. He deems it important that the work help its owners grow and educate themselves. | Christian Hoedl, Bindeteil, chest jewelry, brass, gold, satin band, modeled by Tilmann Piffl, collection of Christian Hoedl, photo courtesy of Christian Hoedl](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/C_-Bindeteil_closed01-800-x-600.png "So, summarized Hoedl, the panelists have a connection with or fall in love with the work. They don’t dislike it or feel disturbed by it. But he went on to describe a collector who has a different approach to collecting. “He’s always driven by things which totally bring him out of his [comfort zone] and make him really nervous and bring up lots of questions. It’s a highly interesting energy, to transform himself.” As a maker and as a curator and gallerist, Hoedl considers this a strong attitude. He deems it important that the work help its owners grow and educate themselves. | Christian Hoedl, Bindeteil, chest jewelry, brass, gold, satin band, modeled by Tilmann Piffl, collection of Christian Hoedl, photo courtesy of Christian Hoedl")
![Pellens responded with passion. “We buy a lot of student work, a lot,” he said, “and for us that does create value, for us and for the maker. You cannot put a value on the look in the eye of a 19-year-old who just sold his first brooch or his first ring, and [who] gets to see two guys get really excited about what he made in that little room in school that nobody ever [sees]. So that intrinsic value to us sometimes is waaaaay more important than [if] they get picked up by galleries, [if] they win awards. If they do, awesome, because then we’ll have a very budget-friendly piece that might end up being really valuable in euros or in currency. But I really don’t care if they get more valuable, because they’re valuable to us, and we would never, ever get rid of them.” Even if the artist later stops making jewelry, it doesn’t diminish the value of the piece for the couple. | A drawer holds brooches from the collection of Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens, photo courtesy of Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/11-800-x-600.jpg "Pellens responded with passion. “We buy a lot of student work, a lot,” he said, “and for us that does create value, for us and for the maker. You cannot put a value on the look in the eye of a 19-year-old who just sold his first brooch or his first ring, and [who] gets to see two guys get really excited about what he made in that little room in school that nobody ever [sees]. So that intrinsic value to us sometimes is waaaaay more important than [if] they get picked up by galleries, [if] they win awards. If they do, awesome, because then we’ll have a very budget-friendly piece that might end up being really valuable in euros or in currency. But I really don’t care if they get more valuable, because they’re valuable to us, and we would never, ever get rid of them.” Even if the artist later stops making jewelry, it doesn’t diminish the value of the piece for the couple. | A drawer holds brooches from the collection of Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens, photo courtesy of Juan Harnie and Dennis Pellens")
![Size matters, especially when it comes to wearability. Hoedl pointed out that you can’t pin on a big brooch and then put a coat on over it, for example. So you may have to bring the brooch to an event in a box, and pop it on after removing your outerwear. But speaking of boxes ... Weston owns an indestructible ring by Goran Kling that she loves and carries around loose in her bag so she can wear it at a moment’s notice. “Hopefully people aren’t horrified to hear [that I do this]. It gets a beautiful patina” from knocking around with everything else at the bottom of the bag. | Work by Goran Kling, collection of Mallory Weston, photo courtesy of Goran Kling’s Instagram feed](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/image2-800-x-600.jpg "Size matters, especially when it comes to wearability. Hoedl pointed out that you can’t pin on a big brooch and then put a coat on over it, for example. So you may have to bring the brooch to an event in a box, and pop it on after removing your outerwear. But speaking of boxes ... Weston owns an indestructible ring by Goran Kling that she loves and carries around loose in her bag so she can wear it at a moment’s notice. “Hopefully people aren’t horrified to hear [that I do this]. It gets a beautiful patina” from knocking around with everything else at the bottom of the bag. | Work by Goran Kling, collection of Mallory Weston, photo courtesy of Goran Kling’s Instagram feed")
![Ribeiro doesn’t wear his brooches every day. For one thing, many are fragile. He selects his brooches and his outfits for the occasion. “I try to be very aware of what I'm wearing, where I'm wearing it, for whom I'm wearing. [...] for the viewer, I'm representing something.” | (Left) Gioielli in Fermento 2015: Isabelle Busnel, Untitled, brooch, white silicone, magnetic fastening, (right) Fondazione Cominelli Award 2015: Caterina Zanca, Untitled, brooch, silver, oxidation, brass, gold leaf, (both photos) collection of Paulo Ribeiro, photos courtesy of Paulo Ribeiro](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/P-Ribeiro-5-800-x-600.png "Ribeiro doesn’t wear his brooches every day. For one thing, many are fragile. He selects his brooches and his outfits for the occasion. “I try to be very aware of what I'm wearing, where I'm wearing it, for whom I'm wearing. [...] for the viewer, I'm representing something.” | (Left) Gioielli in Fermento 2015: Isabelle Busnel, Untitled, brooch, white silicone, magnetic fastening, (right) Fondazione Cominelli Award 2015: Caterina Zanca, Untitled, brooch, silver, oxidation, brass, gold leaf, (both photos) collection of Paulo Ribeiro, photos courtesy of Paulo Ribeiro")
