Art jewellery isn’t about diamonds that dazzle or gold that glitters, at least not in the way traditional jewellery is. It’s about concepts made wearable, sculpture for the body, and ideas expressed in unexpected materials. In SA, the movement has roots reaching back to the mid-20th century and continues to evolve through a new generation of makers pushing the boundaries of concept, form, and experimentation.
Few understand this landscape better than Geraldine Fenn and Eric Loubser, the duo behind Johannesburg’s much-loved Tinsel Gallery. Since 2006, the gallery has provided a platform for local artists, showcasing one-of-a-kind, handmade pieces through solo and group exhibitions that aim to grow the audience for contemporary jewellery in SA. Alongside this, they also create more commercial, sentimental work, such as engagement rings that grace the hands of many stylish Jozi residents.
As jewellers, curators, and champions of the medium in SA, they have spent years fostering conversations around contemporary and art jewellery, introducing it to new audiences. A visit to Fenn and Loubser’s popular Melville studio and gallery feels like stepping inside a jewellery box of curious treasures, micro portraits, old coins, and tiny plastic toys scattered among the traditional tools of the trade.
Surrounded by her own intricate works and collected objects, Fenn explains the basics of art jewellery: “It’s concept-driven and made by the artist, not outsourced to a workshop. The making is as important as the idea, often using experimental materials and techniques.” She pauses, then adds: “Each one-of-a-kind piece is approached like art, conceptually strong, and made to have something to say, with the body itself part of the conversation, sometimes wearable, sometimes challenging that relationship.”
While the concept may be unfamiliar to many, it is far from new. SA has long had its makers and admirers. This October, Strauss & Co will present Origins & Legacy of Art Jewellery in SA, a major two-part online auction accompanied by an exhibition at Stellenbosch’s historic Oude Leeskamer Gallery. Origins traces the field through pioneering immigrant goldsmiths and jewellers such as Erich Frey, Peter Cullman, Margaret Richardson, Elsa Wongchowsky, Tessa Fleischer, and Birger Haglund, as well as members of the South African Goldsmiths Guild formed in 1973. Legacy spotlights today’s boldest makers, including Fenn and Loubser, as well as Nina Newman, Thato Radebe, Joani Groenewald, Samantha Vincent and Dr Bongani Mashange. All artists redefining what it means to wear art.
Unfortunately, despite the excitement around the upcoming auction, the market for art jewellery in SA remains limited. Compared to commercial jewellery, art jewellery may feel expensive, but next to fine art, it is an accessible entry point into collecting. Fenn notes that while people admire their pieces, they do not always buy or wear them, and wearing the work is crucial since the body is part of the conversation. That is why she and Loubser make it a priority to attend Schmuck, the major art jewellery fair held during Munich Jewellery Week. “Art jewellery is niche everywhere, not mainstream like fashion or art,” Fenn explains. “But at shows like Schmuck in Germany, we connect with American and European collectors.”
And so far, this approach is paying off for the Tinsel team, who attend Schmuck as a gallery, showing their work alongside other South African artists. Exhibiting at Schmuck has been invaluable, connecting them with galleries that now know their work. They have also shown individually elsewhere, at a gallery in Stockholm, a jewellery gallery in Brazil, and more recently at the Lisbon Jewellery Biennale in a large group show on political jewellery.
Comparing art jewellery to the thriving world of ceramics, which is marked by rising prices, gallery representation and growing collector interest, Loubser says the medium is still finding its place. “Ceramics has artists like Grayson Perry and Edmund de Waal who have won major prizes and gained acceptance, while we are not there yet. The pattern is the same, people debate whether it counts as serious art. Over time, certain crafts break through, and art jewellery will too. I am convinced that when an art jeweller wins a major prize, everything will shift.”
And what is next? Recently, Fenn won the AJF (Art Jewellery Forum) Solo Exhibition Award, the largest American cash prize for art jewellery. The $20,000 grant will support an exhibition at Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h in Montreal, where she will continue her narrative series reimagining historical portrait jewellery in silver, trade beads and micro mosaic, alongside a collaborative project with Zimbabwe’s Marigold collective, translating the designs into woven beaded panels
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The Origins & Legacy of Art Jewellery in SA online auction will run from October 8 — 22. For more information, visit Straussart.co.za.
