The first of two books by Black Dog which survey contemporary jewelry in the new millennium, this publication sets the scene by introducing contemporary jewelry as a practice which tests the limits of jewelry through a substantial flirtation with fine art. It’s a somewhat boring premise, but it does accurately describe what a lot of contemporary jewelry aspires to. Three essays, by Paul Derrez, Jivan Astfalck and Caroline Broadhead, offer varying levels of theory for the state of play and then individual jewelers are introduced through short essays and generous photo spreads that interestingly play across the spectrum of object reproduction. The variety of makers is solid, making this a very useful introduction to contemporary jewelry of the past two decades.
