JCK Jewelry Agenda: Week of July 28

By Victoria Gomelsky | July 25, 2024

August is upon us! Beat the heat by slipping into a buying show in St. Louis, visiting a jewelry exhibition in Brooklyn, N.Y., or Fort Wayne, Ind., or simply reclining near a pool (or the shore) with a copy of a new book that extolls the female-led future of jewelry design.

SHOP

RJO Show in St. Louis: Aug. 3–5 (in person)

The summer edition of the Retail Jewelers Organization’s semiannual buying show takes place at the Marriott St. Louis Grand next weekend. Take advantage of educational sessions, show specials and evening receptions that provide time for socializing and networking with peers, vendors, and industry experts.

Exhibition at Brooklyn Metal Works: through Aug. 25 (in person)

The work of nonbinary jewelry artist Sulo Bee is on view at the Makeshift [Gardenz] exhibition at Brooklyn Metal Works. “For this specific exhibition, I am thinking about the moving targets of my identity and the intersecting planes of reality they exist within, specifically liminal spaces as moments of extreme transition,” Bee writes on the gallery’s site. “These makeshift gardens act as a buffer between myself and society, an in-between place meant for passing or transitioning.” Or shopping! (The collection is for sale.)

ATTEND

Bill Smith at Fort Wayne Museum of Art: through Aug. 4 (in person)

This is the final week to see “Bill Smith: Jewelry’s Maverick” at Indiana’s Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Smith, one of the most innovative jewelry designers of the 1960s and ’70s, created eccentric costume and body jewelry, often made from industrial materials and inspired by Africa and the Middle East. He earned a Coty Award in 1970 and an appointment to vice president of the jewelry brand Richelieu—unprecedented achievements for a Black designer.

READ

Jewelry’s Shining Stars: The Next Generation by Beth Bernstein (ongoing)

Bernstein book In 2013, jewelry writer Beth Bernstein wrote a book called Jewelry’s Shining Stars, about 38 up-and-coming designers. That book provided a framework for a new edition, Jewelry’s Shining Stars: The Next Generation: 45 Visionary Women Designers. As Amy Elliott wrote for JCK, the new book includes “a stellar lineup of women who have challenged and liberated the conventions of fine jewelry—some reviving age-old design and craftsmanship traditions, others rebelling against them.”