Enjoying JOYA

Jewellery is meant to be a joy for the eye, and JOYA Barcelona showcase a marvelous feast with their ongoing 2020 exhibition of creative designs.

Space Continuity collection by Puerto Rican artist Maria Blondet.

Carrer de Banys Nous, a scenic street in the heart of the old quarter which got its name from the Jewish baths, built there about 800 years ago, is filled with eateries and nice stores. One of the iconic ones is Artesania de Catalunya, a place to shop authentic local craft, and also a place to see local art. Until the end of November 2020, they are running the JOYA exhibition – an array of delicate visual stories, made of silver, gold, glass, porcelain, resins or fiber, and created by artists and schools from around the world, Barcelona included of course.

Craft-tech is a special section of the exhibition for artisans who combine handcrafting with the new technologies. I was fascinated by the thread portraits created by Barcelona-based Marc Sallent.

London-based jeweller Liana Pattihis created a collection with porcelain pieces from Japanese tea cup, silver, and patinated chains.

Youjin Um from Seoul prefers working with metal and especially with silver.

Spanish designer Chama Navarro from Madrid won the DOR Museum award for her handmade work with sustainable, ecological, and environmentally friendly materials. She experiments with organic shapes and textures and works in glass and metal. DOR is a museum dedicated to jewellery and located near Girona. It is a private initiative run by the workshop d’Or Joiers from Barcelona.

The winner of the 12th edition of JOYA is Korean artist Namkyung Lee with her Image Space collection – a series of silver and cooper brooches with city images printed on acrylic.

A part of the exhibition is dedicated to art schools, and below are the creations of Jesus Delonso and Sonia Marin, respectively, both selected from Escuela ARTE 3 Madrid.