Elena Karpilova & Danielle deCongé

Elena Karpilova was born in Belarus in 1987. Since 2022, she has lived in Lisbon, Portugal. From 2005–2009, she studied art at Glebov Art College (Belarus); from 2010–2016 she studied at the University of Culture and Arts (Belarus) as a comparative art critic. She is an art critic, an artist, and the head of an interdisciplinary project for children and youth, the Architectural Thinking School for Children, which now works in Portugal with families of migrants. “Due to a lack of education in the jewelry field in Belarus," says Karpilova, "I've been studying the subject on my own."

Karpilova was a finalist for the AGC Italy - Association of Contemporary Jewellery's Maria Cristina Bergesio Award 2024. She's a member of AGC (Association of Contemporary Jewellery). Website: elenakarpilova.com. Instagram: @karpilova

Danielle deCongé is AJF's Membership + Programs Coordinator. She's also a guest curator at The Jewelry Library. Originally from Baltimore, deCongé sprouted her burgeoning artistic wings at The Park School, before pursuing a BFA in Jewelry & Fine Metals at Pratt Institute in New York City. Her creative pursuits at deCongé Jewelry & Alchemy flourished before she took an extended holiday in London to study Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE) at the University of London, Goldsmiths just before the coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps most importantly, she is a cat mom to a 12-year-old diabetic tuxedo.