JCK Jewelry Agenda: Week of Dec. 21

By Victoria Gomelsky | December 17, 2025

The holiday selling season is almost over. If you need to pick up a last-minute gift, we’ve recommended some great jewelry- and craft-themed books below. If you’ve already checked out and have nothing but time on your hands this week, two exhibitions, in NYC and Houston, are the perfect ways to fill the days. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate!

ATTEND

Exhibition at Mahnaz Collection in New York City: Through Dec. 23 (in person)

Angelo Giorgio Cazzaniga sautoir at Mahnaz — *Angelo Giorgio Cazzaniga diamond, ruby, pale blue and gold enamel, and 18k yellow gold sautoir, Rome, Italy, c. 1965 (photo courtesy of Mahnaz Collection)*

You have two days to catch “Metamorphosis: Jewelry Design From Paris to the U.S. Pueblos, 1950s–90s,” an exhibition at the Mahnaz Collection gallery showcasing more than 150 vintage jewels created by visionary designers, artists, architects, and heritage houses—particularly women and indigenous American artists and metalsmiths—during a transformative period in jewelry design.

Dorothea Prühl Exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts Houston: Through Jan. 3, 2027 (in person)

Dorothea Pruhl Butterflies 2008 — *Dorothea Prühl,* Butterflies (Schmetterlinge)*, 2008 (photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts Houston)*

While you’ve got plenty of time to visit “The Jewelry of Dorothea Prühl” exhibition before it closes, don’t let yourself get complacent. It marks the first U.S. exhibition dedicated to the German artist. Spanning nearly five decades of her work, the presentation features a series of necklaces and brooches that exemplify Prühl’s visionary approach to contemporary jewelry. Her expressive compositions and seemingly simple gestures belie a complexity and degree of craftsmanship that is, according to experts, unmatched in contemporary practice.

READ

The Jewelry Book by Melanie Grant

the jewelry book cover Grant, a U.K.-based author and industry luminary who edited The Jewelry Book, has included an eclectic mix of jewelers in this lush coffee table book, which profiles talents from the worlds of costume, fine, high, and artist jewelry.

Costume Jewelry by Carol Woolton

This forthcoming title sheds light on how the costume jewelry category came into its own after the Great Depression and World Wars through nearly 600 exquisite examples assembled by collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.

The Age of Grandeur by Daniela Mascetti and David Bennett

the age of grandeur Subtitled “The Definitive Guide to 19th-Century Jewellery From the Classical and Romantic to Art Nouveau,” this illustrative tome features more than 250 images that help trace the evolution of jewelry style during the 1800s.

Craftland by James Fox

Craftland Fox makes a passionate case for buying handmade in this deeply researched book about the hidden histories that have shaped Britain’s heritage of craftsmanship. The book, which is subtitled “In Search of Lost Arts and Disappearing Trades,” warns that the country’s oldest artisanal traditions are on the brink of extinction.