Manuel Vilhena

Manuel Vilhena (b. 1967, Lisbon, Portugal) started making jewelry in his teens, learning from master craftsmen in Brazil and Italy. He completed his training as a classical goldsmith in 1989. Curious about contemporary jewelry, he then studied with Prof. Peter Skubic, and later enrolled at the Royal College of Art, London, under Prof. David Watkins, where he completed his master’s degree in 1998. In 1999 he founded Postcon to promote and explore “post-contemporary jewelry” and other far-fetched ideas. Some are contained in his book, Do You Speak Jewellery?© (1998). He has taught extensively at jewelry-related institutions around the world, including the Royal College of Art; Hiko Mizuno Jewellery College; Silpakorn University; AR.CO; Shenkar College; and Alchimia, where he was senior lecturer for six years. He was workshop leader at the Salzburg Summer Academy for two years and held a professorship at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts for four years. He’s an entertaining lecturer and most of what he says is true. His artwork has been shown in several countries and some examples can be seen in several books on contemporary jewelry. The work is also present in some public and private collections, including the Danner Rotunde and the V&A.