This week’s jewelry calendar is filled with promise. For one thing, physical events are back! From the “Sculpture to Wear” pop-up opening at Sotheby’s East Hampton on Aug. 3 to Melee the Show, kicking off this Friday in Manhattan, in-person gatherings are picking up steam. (We’re eyeing flights to Barcelona just to see an exhibition of Picasso’s under-the-radar jewels!). If you’d still prefer to gather virtually, you’re in luck: On Wednesday, Marion Fasel, curator of the American Museum of Natural History’s “Beautiful Creatures” exhibition, is giving Gemflix participants the grand tour.
LISTEN
New Plumb Club Podcasts: Ongoing
The Plumb Club recently dropped a couple of new podcast episodes. “The Importance of Images”—led by Kye Ehrlich, head of photography and graphic art at the Marathon Co.—explores the visual language retailers must use to attract customers and provides tips on obtaining high-quality imagery and/or creating images in-house. Meanwhile, in “Retailing in Today’s World,” Karl Schmid and Carolina Almanzar, vice president and senior sales representative, respectively, with IStar Group, discuss what it takes to create a successful e-commerce website as well as other digital solutions critical to modern-day jewelry retailing.
ENTER
Apply for the Halstead Grant: Through Aug. 1 (online)
Today is the last day to apply for a Halstead Grant, an annual award for emerging silver jewelry artists. In addition to submitting a design portfolio, applicants are asked to answer 15 business questions. The process is designed to help jewelry entrepreneurs create a strategy to kick-start their careers. The grand prize is a $7,500 cash grant plus other benefits.
ATTEND
“Sculpture to Wear” Pop-Up at Sotheby’s East Hampton: Opens Aug. 3 (in person)
From Aug. 3 to Aug. 28, Sotheby’s East Hampton will host a pop-up featuring more than 80 works of artist-made jewelry, including pieces by Ron Arad, Alexander Calder, Niki de Saint Phalle, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Claude Lalanne, Mariko Mori, Man Ray, Christopher Thompson Royds, Conrad Shawcross, Cora Sheibani, Yinka Shonibare CBE, Jesús Rafael Soto, Gavin Turk, and more. The “Sculpture to Wear” exhibition is a collaboration between Louisa Guinness, whose eponymous gallery in London specializes in artist-made jewels, and Tiffany Dubin of Sotheby’s in New York and is meant to bring attention to the niche category. “These works,” Guinness said, “challenge and expand traditional ways of wearing and seeing jewelry.”
Gemflix Webinar on AMNH’s “Beautiful Creatures” Exhibit: Aug. 4, 12 p.m. ET (online)
Marion Fasel, curator of the “Beautiful Creatures” exhibit in the newly renovated Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History, takes Gemflix participants on a tour of the museum, dishing, along the way, on the backstories of the more than 100 bejeweled creatures that comprise the exhibit, including a JAR snake, a Boucheron cicada brooch, a Salvador Dalí starfish, and butterflies made by Belperron and Wallace Chan, among many other of the world’s most recognizable jewelers.
“MAD About Jewelry” Conversation: Aug. 5, 5 p.m. ET (online)
The Museum of Art and Design’s “MAD About Jewelry” series continues this week with a conversation between Vogue contributing editor (and resident jewelry junkie) Lynn Yaeger and Malu Byrne and Rick Van Streain Low of EN Jewelry Studio. Byrne and Van Streain Low will discuss how they started their careers working with jewelry artists Gabriella Kiss and Jill Platner, respectively, before teaming up to create jewels anchored in elemental forms.
“Picasso & Artist’s Jewellery” Exhibition at the Museu Picasso in Barcelona: Through Sept. 26 (in person)
For Pablo Picasso, jewelry was an intensely personal and intimate medium. He did not make jewelry in large quantities, nor did he exhibit his work, but the pieces on display at the Museu Picasso this summer—including shell necklaces made for Dora Maar, ceramic pieces modeled in Madoura’s workshop, and gold items from the 1960s—are proof that the 20th century’s most famous artist (arguably) expressed himself in wearable art. Should you find yourself in Barcelona this month or next, do not miss this singular opportunity to get up close and personal with Picasso’s lesser-known art.
SHOP
Melee the Show: Aug. 6–9 in New York City (in person)
August’s slate of jewelry shows kicks off on Friday with Melee the Show, a designer-led fair taking place at the Bowery Hotel in New York City. Founded in 2017 by designers and friends Rebecca Overmann and Lauren Wolf, the show was conceived as an intimate event focused on helping designers and buyers “engage with each other over new collections in a meaningful way.” Consider it the appetizer to a week of in-person Manhattan shows, including JA New York and NY Now, which take over the Javits Center Aug. 8–10 and Aug. 8–11, respectively.
Top: Secret Date bracelet in 18k rose gold with rose de France amethyst and white South Sea pearl, €2,200 ($2,613); Alessandra Donà
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