Jewelry Trends at Design Miami/Basel

Elisabetta Cipriani/Enrico Castellani and Louisa Guinness Gallery/Anish Kapoor are instant favorites!

From June 11-16, sister fair to Design Miami lands in Basel.  While wealthy art collectors gather to buy art at Art Basel (Bazaar rubbed shoulders with Wendi Murdoch and Dasha Zhukova among others at its Miami equivalent last December), the discerning design fan goes to appreciate, pore over and purchase design at the Design Fair.

And this year there’s a new perspective – jewellery designed by living fine artists.  So an Antony Gormley piece will sit happily next to an Anish Kapoor – only in miniature, and wearable. We round up the best jewellery/art shows this year.

Elisabetta Cipriani/Enrico Castellani solo show

Elisabetta Cipriani, whose Heddon Street gallery exhibits artist-made jewellery, will present Superficie: a bracelet and necklace designed by Enrico Castellani, one of Italy’s most avant-garde artists. Using the same techniques that he did for his iconic relief paintings over a decade ago, he has created geometric patterns on sheets of gold to create the same effect. Each piece is an edition of 12.

Louisa Guinness Gallery/Anish Kapoor solo show

When curator Louisa Guinness hit on the idea to approach artists such as Sam Taylor-Johnson, Gavin Turk and Antony Gormley to express themselves through jewellery design, the result was a fascinating exploration of adornment as art. At Design Miami, Guinness (who has also sold pieces from 20th century artists such as Man Ray and Alexander Calder) is presenting a solo show from Anish Kapoor, whose collection is both geometric and intricate in stature.

Ornamentum/Contemporary jewellery

Dutch art jeweller Ruudt Peters’ latest work ‘Qi’ is a collection of drawings on stone fashioned into brooches and pendants, and layered with further drawings of silver. The fascinating exhibition results from a three month sojourn exploring alchemy in China. Other highlights of wearable exhibits include rings adorned with piles of nuts, bolts and gemstones from Karl Fritch and a sculptural piece from original contemporary jeweller Gerd Rothmann.

Didier Ltd/Ute Decker

A must-see presentation is the wearable art from Ute Decker - the German-born artist and jeweller. Arm sculptures made from recycled silver and rings from ecological gold are beautifully fluid and striking in their architecture. Decker is presented by Didier Ltd - a London-based gallery, which specialises in jewellery by leading 20th century painters, sculptors, designers and architects such as Georges Braques.

(harpersbazaar.co.uk)