Time for Jewelry
As we consider how it complements our eyes, or matches our clothes, we rarely stop to think about how jewelry is art that serves to interpret time. But jewelry, like fashion, is equal parts style and art, and a new European exhibit pushes the latter half of that equation.
 
Timetales, the latest installation of the annual Lucca Preziosa project, challenged top contemporary jewelry designers to translate time into wearable art. The resulting collection, by 11 European artists, shows how jewelry both translates our memories into the present, and illustrates the present as a reflection of current societal and political influences.
 
The project comprises three sections:
Memories of the Past focuses on materials and forms that recall the past, like Giampaolo Babetto's work, which is inspired by Renaissance paintings by Pontormo.
Private Memories explores how an individual's memories influence art, like Eija Mustonen, whose jewelry represents the natural environment of her native Finland.
Traces of the Present looks at how jewelry represents the world in which the artist lives. Work by Katja Prins, for example, reflects the importance of and our reliance upon technology in our daily lives.
 
Lucca Preziosa is an annual project sponsored by Le Arti Orafe, a contemporary jewelry school in Italy. Timetales, the third installation of Lucca Preziosa, will open at the Museu Tèxtil i d'Indumentària in Barcelona, Spain, on Nov. 23 and run through Jan. 6. It will also be on view during the Inhorgenta Fair in Munich, Germany, Feb. 15–18.

Weekly Gem
Richmond's annual Pumpkin Palooza, an event benefiting the Faison School, featured more than 30 pumpkins carved by local artists—including one particularly sparkly version by Schwarzschild Jewelers. The glam 75-pound pumpkin, designed by Schwarzschild's Bonnie O'Donnell, glittered with 3,885 Swarovski crystals.
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