Kadri Mälk

Kadri Mälk (1958) is an internationally renowned Estonian jewelry artist by profession, metaphysicist by métier. As the head of the jewelry department at the Estonian Academy of Arts, she has shaped a generation of Estonian jewelry artists. Mälk’s signature aesthetic is dark, esoteric, poetic, and otherworldly. One of her passions is collecting jewelry.

Mälk began her studies at Tartu Art School in 1977 and graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts in 1986, studying under professor Leili Kuldkepp. Between 1986 and 1993, Mälk worked as a freelance artist. In 1993 she enrolled at the Lahti Design Institute in Finland, studying gemology under the direction of Esko Timonen, and completed her studies at Bernd Munsteiner’s lapidary studio in Germany. Mälk has worked at the Estonian Academy of Arts since 1989 and has been a professor in the jewelry department at the school since 1996. She has had both solo and group exhibitions throughout the world. Her jewelry has been displayed in various museums and exhibitions. She has been the author and publisher of books and texts on jewelry art since the 1990s, including Kadri Mälk (2001), a volume accompanying the international jewelry exhibition Just Must (2008), jewelry group Castle in the Air (2011), and the artist books Testament (2016) and HUNT: (2020).