April 10th - May 23rd 2003

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

An Exhibition of Contemporary Spanish Jewellery

!
OJO!
 JEWELLERS
GREGO GARCIA TEBAR

INMA GIBERT

ESTELA GUITART

ANA HAGOPIAN

KEPA KARMONA

SAMUEL MARTINEZ

ITXASO MEZZACASA

XAVIER INES MONCLUS

MARC MONZO

ESTELA OCAMPO

SILVIA PIVA

TENSI SOLSONA I FIGOLS

MILENA TRUJILLO ACOSTA

2
The conference in Manchester held by the Association for
Contemporary Jewellery in 2003 has given me the ideal forum in
which to curate this exhibition. I was brought up in Spain inheriting
both Basque and Mediterranean cultures, and, although trained and
living in England, I was curious to know who were their emerging
designers. What influenced their work? What was going on in
Spain in the field of contemporary jewellery which I was so involved
with in England?

The exhibition attempts no more than to illustrate, from a personal

point of view and with professional advice, the current profile of
contemporary jewellery in Spain today.

The title responds to the conference theme ‘Eye of the Beholder’

where the word ‘ojo’ is a literal translation of ‘eye’. The addition of
exclamation marks would alert you in Spanish to ‘beware!’ or
‘watch it!’

My initial objective was a search for work that created in me a sense

of wonder and of intrigue. I welcomed advice from gallery owners
and spent time with the individual designers, but central to
understanding the background was a visit to the permanent
collection of modern jewellery established by historian Mónica
Gaspar: “El laboratori de la joieria. 1940 - 1990” (Laboratory of
jewellery. 1940 - 1990) at the Museu de les Arts Decoratives de
Barcelona. I eventually closed the list with a series of criteria on
board: Innovation. New process. Social comment. Question.
Aesthetic challenge. Independent thought.

Finding these qualities in the group of designers for ¡Ojo!

simultaneously put my own ideas of design and wearability in
question. Coupled with showing the extraordinary breadth of
materials used, I hope to expose the very exciting and vibrant way in
which these Spanish jewellers work. Mundane, domestic objects that
would normally reside in a forgotten drawer like rubber bands,
pencils, old paint brushes, photographs, and very unlikely

SARAH O’HANA
ingredients are treated reverently. Some are fantastically married to
silver and gold as shown in the work of S a m u e l M a r t i n e z, originally
a builder, who speaks of cement winning over all other materials.
T e n s i S o l s o n a addresses the normality of a carpenter’s pencil
taking it out context while K e p a k a r m o n a, from Bilbao, equates his
work to talismans of the urban jungle. Symbols of the consumer
society which we live in, representations of our surroundings worn
as would an American Indian the symbolic feathers of his culture.
In X a v i e r I n e s M o n c l ú s’ work I found a complex mix of surrealism
and play, colourful pieces using cartoon stickers and lollipop sticks.
A fascination with toys and peculiar mechanisms that form his work
caught my eye for its unique imagery and perfected structural
techniques. The boxes of collected and found objects of
G r e g o G a r c í a tells us of ‘stories in another format’, memories of
youth, modern relics for future heirlooms perhaps. I found similar
accounts of human celebration in M i l e n a T r u j i l l o. Born in Bogotá
and at home with the crowds of a large city, Milena has spoken of the
need to see people in the street at all times, to feel the community
around her that creates energy and stimulates her work.
The quiet statement of M a r c M o n z ó’s work, perhaps the most
challenging of all, creates instability by obscuring silver in paint, so
depriving the viewer of its precious content. The work on display is
described by him as a phrase, and is aptly shown in a particular
order. In others, such as A n a H a g o p i á n and I t x a s o M e z z a c a s a
the intensity of material handling creates a sense of intrigue, with
exquisitely dyed paper and rubber to produce extraordinary
structures. Itxaso’s more recent work includes using old jewellery
dies to produce new ones containing memories and old traditions
which she brings to the present. E s t e l a O c a m p o, professor in Art
Theory, has worked her interest in primitive art around the huge
silver castings that form her bracelets. E s t e l a G u i t a r t works in a
particular aesthetic plateau to create pieces of extreme classic
beauty, using ancient techniques to enhance the silver. Others,
whose materials remain more traditional, contain all the sensitivity
Designer and lecturer in jewellery
City College Manchester
and caution of a dream, a legend, or a gift containing a precious
memory: S i l v i a P i v a, whose pieces she calls ‘offerings’
occasionally trap a dried rose while I n m a G i b e r t speaks of being
influenced by anything that leaves a trace. Indeed her rings,
containing all detail on the inside of the shanks that would perhaps
leave an impression after wearing, speak of inner beauty and
anti-opulence.
Common to all, however, is the intimate relationship which each artist
has with their materials. Like an affair, which carries the very
conviction of their ideas and thoughts. This offers a confidence, an
inner strength to the receiver, not only because the pieces may be
individually made, or because they may be exclusive one-offs,
but because of the deep understanding of process and material
handling. The struggle to succeed over frequent failure,
the persistent need to achieve and resolve problems in an area of
work which is often ground breaking for the maker develops into
maturity with all the usual peaks and troughs of harmony and
conflict, elation and sorrow. It contains argument, anger, frustration
as well as the pleasure and total ecstasy of ‘having got it right’:
the “eureka” moment. The visible sensuality of some of the pieces is
a tribute to this engagement as a more intimate look reveals the
subtleties of instinct, inspiration, stimulation, devotion.
A very individual pact is then created for the recipient whether
wearing the piece or just looking at it.
What did I find, after so many years of absence? A generation of
jewellers whose work is surreal, graphic, energetic, colourful,
proudly independent and fresh. An explosion and a love of life that
perhaps typifies the Spanish culture. I have particularly valued the
dialogue, discussion and exchange of thought which has developed
between the individuals and myself and I thank all of them for their
willingness to share and partake in this very personal project.
4
When Sarah O’Hana told me that she wanted to organise an
exhibition of contemporary Spanish jewellery, I suggested that it
might be ambiguous to link the words “Spanish” and “contemporary
jewellery” without being more specific. Artistic questioning into body
ornamentation, the existence of a focus point for learning about,
discussing and, in short, developing an artistic language for jewellery
is a strictly Catalan phenomenon, centred on the city of Barcelona.
For historical reasons going back to the era of Modernisme, because
of the city’s avant-garde tradition and because of more recent
contact and exchanges between the Massana School and the
Pforzheim school, we can conclude that at present Spanish
contemporary jewellery is best defined with the label “Made in
Barcelona.” Regardless of this qualification, further doubts might
also strike us when we ask ourselves how to define local jewellery-
making when it is so easy for its proponents to access vast amounts
of information, to study abroad or to receive, via the Internet, visual
stimuli from all corners of the globe. However since the curator has
asked me to write a few lines for this catalogue, I am going to suggest
something that in my view might define the particular, common
thread linking this selection of jewellery-makers.

To start with, Catalan handicrafts have traditionally tended to look

out towards the Mediterranean rather than inland towards the
interior of the Iberian Peninsula. A preference for colour, for
example, can be found both in traditional, Arab-influenced ceramics
as well as on the façades of Gaudí buildings. In the realm of the
plastic arts, an affinity with other European avant-garde movements
was particularly intense among Catalan artists, led by great figures
such as Dalí and Miró. The work of goldsmith and painter Manuel
Capdevila, a pioneer in contemporary jewellery in this country, is the
product of these antecedents, and displays the main characteristics
of what we could call the “Barcelona School.”

Capdevila’s famous jewellery of the late thirties, in the form of

surreal reliefs, were coloured with Japanese lacquer. His love of
painting would create a decisive tendency towards the use of colour

MONICA GASPAR
in Catalan jewellery-making, unlike the rest of Spain which,
throughout the 20th century, remained faithful to embossed,
patinated or damascened metal, in keeping with historical
antecedents, before later adopting the values of conservative
jewellery-making, which put the expense of materials above the
originality of its designs. Thus colour became a key element in
Catalan jewellery-making, from the daring use of oil paint, applied
onto gold, as in the jewellery of Joaquim Capdevila in the Sixties, to
the use of tinted plastics in the eighties by the group Positvra, or the
bright acrylic colours of the jewellery of Ramón Puig Cuyàs, the most
international of Catalan jewellery-makers. Among new generations
we continue to see a certain affiliation for a pictorial approach, from
the visual poems of Xavier Ines Monclús, to the portable murals of
Kepa Karmona, without forgetting the work of Marc Monzó, creating
tiny patches of colour on our clothing. Estela Guitart can “paint” her
jewellery with Japanese lacquer thanks to the stubbornness of
Capdevila, who managed to convince various Japanese masters to
reveal the secrets of their craft, and thus, for the first time in Spain in
the grey fifties, a lacquer department was founded at the Massana
School.
There is perhaps a second element that defines the jewellery shown
here and which once again stems from ‘grand-father’ Capdevila,
whose decisive role in converting the Massana School into a nursery
for the new jewellery must be acknowledged. This was the
development of a certain poetics of “poor” materials which, because
of their every-day nature, pass unnoticed but which nevertheless
harbour an inner beauty. This all began in the fifties, when Manuel
Capdevila made a series of necklaces using pebbles, as a reaction
against the glittering jewellery worn by the nouveaux riches in the
post-war period. The use of humble, worn or forgotten materials to
make jewellery connected with the spirit of informalist art, and would
later be one of the main weapons of international contemporary
jewellery in its proclamation that any material was acceptable for
making jewellery. This tendency has led to an intensive amount of
Art historian and independent curator
specialising in jewellery
experimentation with materials, both precious or otherwise, to
discover their artistic, symbolic or emotional potential. Among the
younger generations of Catalan jewellery-makers we could mention
the jewellery of Tensi Solsona, made from carpenters’ pencils, or the
brooches by Samuel Martínez, made from cement.The contemporary
jewellery that is made in Barcelona is the work not just of Catalan
jewellery-makers but also of a large number of artists from the rest
of Spain who, attracted by the prestige of Barcelona’s art schools
and the creative atmosphere in the city, have decided to settle here.
Young jewellery-makers from the rest of Europe and from Latin
America complete the picture. Milena Trujillo brought from her native
Colombia the pleasure of telling stories through the characters in her
jewellery. Her pieces have a strong metaphorical component, which
converts them into a type of protective amulet. The desire to
rediscover the primitive and magical origins of ornamentation has
also been a constant element in international contemporary
jewellery. In Barcelona, Xavier Domènech is perhaps the jewellery-
maker who has come closest to this spirit, in a way which is both very
personal, but at the same time erudite, transmitting to his students an
attitude that is almost ethnographic, and which invites them to
explore freely what jewellery means today. Perhaps we will find some
replies at the bottom of the Mediterranean...
(English translation: Jonathan Bennett)
6
 Born Albacete, Spain - 1964.
Address C/ Sant Doménech, Local 1˚, 08012,
Barcelona, Spain.

Studies
1983 - 89 Escola Massana.
Jewellery design and manufacture.
1985 - 86 Engraving course.
1987 - 88 Contemporary imaging.
1993 - 95 Member of the Junta Directiva de Orfebres FAD.
1994 - 97 Set up workshop with other jewellers called LOCAL D.

Exhibitions
” box, 1991 L’atelier Metal, Martigues - France.
r y el Gallo l): wooden
“El Ruiseño e Cockere
Nightin gale and th gold le af. 1992 “Nine Catalan Jewellers”,
(The paper,
cts, silver,
found obje The Scottish Gallery - Edinbugh.
“Nou joies d,Aquí” Hipòtesi - Barcelona.
1994 “Forum fur schmuck und design” - Germany.
1995 “La Joia i el seu Dibuix”, Hipòtesi - Barcelona.
“Reencuentros Contemporáneos”, Cagnes - France.
2000 “Grego Garcia y Silvia Piva”,
Hipòtesi - Barcelona.
2002 Kath Libbert, Salt’s Mill, Bradford - UK.
Colectiva, Oxida Joies, Lleida - Barcelona.
 GREGO GARCIA TEBAR
Stories in another format, born from moments of love or hate of myself, that steer my own
world and my freedom. Stories to wear in the strictest intimate discretion, of lovers walking,
searching, touching lightly, holding hands, being seen…

Photographs Blai Carda

“El vestido de mi desnudez” “Me la comí porque era mía” “En el mar de los olvidos”
(the outfit of my nudity): laminated paper, (I ate her because she was mine): (In the sea of forgetfulness): wooden box,
silver, aquamarine, moonstone, white coral wooden box, felt, white coral, paper, resin, silver, dried seahorse,
and pink pearl. shark’s teeth, silver. gold leaf, felt, coral.

8
 Born Barcelona.
Address C/ Copons 7, 3˚, 3a 08002,
Barcelona, Spain.

Studies Graduate in Applied Arts - Jewellery Design and Engraving

at the Universitat de Barcelona.
Currently lecturer in Jewellery design at the
Escola Llotja - Barcelona.

Exhibitions
1991 “Un siglo de Joyería Española”,
Ring in silver. In the interior: 2 cabochon opals set with 2 gold Mahón - Baleares.
wires forming a linear pattern at the same time. It appears a 1994 “Una Joia”, Gallery Artlanka - Barcelona.
discreet piece which, should you wish to try it, will give you
the most subtle of caresses. 1996 DBarcelona - Barcelona.
1997 Engravings and jewellery,
Theatre Artembrut - Barcelona.
1998 Engravings and precious metals,
FAEC gallery - Barcelona.
1999 Engravings, Library of Encamp - Andorra.
2001 “Enjoia’t”, Orfebres FAD - Barcelona.
2002 “Reservat per a les dones”, Sala Tocs,
Vilanova i la Geltrú - Barcelona.

Ring in silver. In the interior 5 gold beads which
can be moved along the inside circumference.
It evokes a past and a childhood.
Ring in silver. In the interior 12 cabochon garnets,
set onto a gold base in two groups of six. They are
evidence of the existing souls of some jewels.
INMA GIBERT
My dedication to jewellery goes back what feels
like a lifetime. I love jewels, I like teaching
students how to create them and I am especially
fond of jewellery that expresses feeling.
I am also attracted to anything that leaves a
track behind, a signal, a trace, which explains
my interest in engraving. At a point in my life,
both professions have come together to form a
new vision for the creation of jewellery using
engraving techniques.
My most recent pieces, a collection of rings,
have been created in gold and silver, and some
are set with coloured gems. My intention is to
create a discreet bond between the jewel itself
and the wearer, hiding in their deepest interior
the most valuable significance. A total contrast
to overt opulence.
10
Born Barcelona, Spain - 1970.
Address Pg. Manuel Girona 48, 08034,
Barcelona, Spain.

Studies
1988 - 90 Jewellery Design, Instituto Europeo di Design,
Milan, Italy.
1990 - 95 Jewellery, Engraving and Japanese Lacquer:
Escola Massana, Barcelona, Spain.

Exhibitions
1996 Broughton House Gallery, Cambridge, UK.
1997 Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
1998 Magari - Barcelona.
2000 Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
"Contemporary Spanish Jewellery",
Oxoxo Gallery, Baltimore and Thomas Mann Gallery,
New Orleans - USA.
2001 Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona
Sofie Lachaert Editions, Gent - Belgium.
2002 Claudio Joyas, León - Spain.
"El Broche", Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
Istra, San Sebastián - Spain.
“Contacto Directo”, Lisboa - Portugal.
 ESTELA GUITART
Estela Guitart's jewels start from simple modules which are
repeated, giving rise to the piece. 'Lucía' is a series of articulated
necklaces formed by fine plates in gold or silver which can adopt
different shapes. "A jewel is not finished" says Estela " until it is
placed on the body: the jewel improves and so does the person."

Mónica Gaspar

12
Born Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1960.
Address Volta dels Tamborets 2, 3º, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.

Studies Fine Art and Interior Design.

1982 Moves to Spain.

Exhibitions
1997 “Menjar i Veure”, Gallery Alter Ego - Barcelona.
Work selected for the Guggenheim Museum,
New York, USA.
1998 Hipòtesi Gallery - Barcelona.
1999 Espacio Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Madrid - Spain.
Symposium of Contemporary Jewellery, FAD - Barcelona.
2000 Gallery Dominique Lietaert, Louvain - Belgium.
“Tuyo y Mío”, gallery Forvm Ferlandina Barcelona.
2001 Gallery Maya, Namur - Belgium.
2002 Idea Como, Como - Italy.
“The Brooch”, Forvm Ferlandina -Barcelona.
“Contacto Directo”, Lisboa - Portugal.
 ANA HAGOPIAN
The work of Ana Hagopian oscillates between two constant factors: the
allusion to the natural world where she finds organic shape and limitless
colour, and the materials which she uses; papers and different types of
textiles which are recycled and can in turn be recycled. She describes
them as a universe of colour, texture and form.

14
Born Bilbao, Spain - 1969.
Address Avenida de San Antonio 12, 48450 Etxebarri,
Bizcaya, Spain.

Studies
1992 - 94 Escuela de Joyería y Relojería del País Vasco,
Bilbao, Spain.
1993 - 94 Escuela de Gemología del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain.
1994 - 98 Escola Massana, specialising in jewellery, Barcelona, Spain.
Escola Llotja, Barcelona, Spain.
Kent Institute of Art & Design, England.

Exhibitions
1998 Schmuck ’98 Internationale Handwerksmesse München.
Munich Germany.
Desafío 1664 de Kronenbourg en Arte y Diseño.
F.A.D - Barcelona.
1999 Contemporary Spanish Jewellery, OXOXO Gallery,
Baltimore, New Orleans - U.S.A.
“Encuentro entre dos”, Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
2000 - 01 Balanced. Zijspring, Antwerpen - Belgium.
Museu de l’Art de la Pell, Vic.
El Laboratori de la Joieria 1940-1990. Museu de les Arts
Decoratives - Barcelona.
2002 Hipòtesi - Barcelona.
Masterpieces/Capolavori. Palazzo Bricherasio. Torino - Italy.
 KEPA KARMONA
Our culture populates its surroundings with wasted stocks that are drowning us.
My pictorial language is one of popular stereotypes. Like the world of marketing, more
interested in container that in contents, it has an attraction and visual strength.
The Dayaks of Borneo cover their bodies with tattoos representing plants, fruits and
animals of the forest, which, with a deep mystical sense, help them to move and to hunt
without breaking the original harmony between themselves and the jungle. Equally my
jewels try to create a system of signs that helps us, if not to find the harmony, at least to
survive in our displacements by the urban forest and to move between the culture of the
consumption and the decrease of natural resources.

16
 Born Barcelona, Spain - 1966.
Address Opera Joies, Pg. Enric Regull 6, 08720 Vilafranca del
Penedés, Barcelona, Spain.

Studies
1992 - 96 Graduated in Arts and Crafts specialising in silversmithing,
La Llotja, Barcelona, Spain.

Exhibitions
1995 “Mosaicos ahora”, Sala BD - Barcelona.
1997 Textile Museum, Orfebres FAD, Barcelona - Spain.
viaje 1999 Gallery Palma Xll, Vilafranca del
Penedés - Barcelona.
“Arts Ornata Mediterranean”, Sala Comillas - Barcelona.
2000 “Meeting between two,” Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
2001 Opened own gallery for contemporary jewellery,
Opera Joies, Vilafranca del Penedés - Barcelona.
2002 “The Brooch”, Forvm Ferlandina Barcelona.
SAMUEL MARTINEZ SAAVEDRA
The understanding of materials provokes in me an explosion of feelings.
Poetry puts my restlessness at ease. Three brooches tell a short story.
The search for space leads me to work without concern for the body.
Volume is broken and space invades all. Cement wins space over metal.
Mosaics made with cement will always be present in the development of my work.

Diluvio Satélite Mediterráneo

18
Born San Sebastian, Spain - 1975.
Address C/ Om 8, Interior D, 08001 Barcelona, Spain.

Studies
1993 - 1995 Graphic design at the Instituto Europeo di Design,
Milan, Italy.
1997 - 2000 Jewellery at Escola Massana, Barcelona, Spain.
1998 - 1999 “Industry, Market and Marketing “ for jewellers, Escola
Massana, Barcelona, Spain.

Exhibitions
1997 Torino - Italy.
1998 Casa Elizalde - Barcelona.
1999 “Talente”, Munich - Germany.
2000 “Balanced”, Zijsprong gallery, Antwerpen - Belgium.
“Tu y yo, un encuentro”, Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
2001 Museu de l’Art de la Pell, Vic Spain.
“Inhorgenta”, Munich - Germany.
“Schmuck 2001”, Munich - Germany.
Wilhelm Wagenfeld Haus, Bremen, Germany.
“On egin dagizula”, Galeria Istra, San Sebastián - Spain.
Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
2002 “Disjuntives”, Can Felipa - Barcelona.
Presentation of “Peu de Reina”, Barcelona.
“Joies amb joies” Vuit propostes.
Enjoia´t- Alea, Barcelona - Spain.
 ITXASO MEZZACASA
I like things that don´t appeal at first sight, things that don´t draw your attention, that are
absent, but little by little you come to realise their existence. They gain on you and you on them.
Elastic bands have helped me to make this point of view. With a simple gesture, rolling them
over one another, placing some inside others, one after another, or just tied up, you take them
out of their context. They are transformed, lose their form and function, surprising the onlooker
and oneself.

The work entitled “Fossil” is a criticism of the “society of information” and of the “society of
speed” in which we live. Re-using old jewel dies I make a new jewel that is a memory of the
present contains and another one of the past. In these jewels I make appear fragments of the
old jewels that were made with those ancient dies. These works belong to two worlds that
frequently face each other.

20
 Born Barcelona, Spain - 1966.
Address Pg. Valldaura 26, 4º, 2a. 08031 Barcelona, Spain.

Studies
1986 - 92 Jewellery design: Escola Massana, Barcelona, Spain.

Exhibitions
1998 “Jewellery Moves” National Museums of Scotland,
Edinburgh - UK.
2000 “Balanced”, Zijsprong Gallery - Antwerpen.
Galería Magari - Barcelona.
“Contemporary Spanish Jewellery”, Oxoxo Gallery,
Baltimore - USA.
2001 “The Ring”, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge - USA
“Jewellery from Barcelona”, Velvet da Vinci Gallery,
San Francisco - USA.
SOFA fire, Mobilia Gallery, New York and Chicago - USA.
2002 SOFA fire, Mobilia Gallery, New York and Chicago - USA.
“The kidnapping of the EEC” Zijsprong Gallery, Antwerpen - Belgium.
55 x 75 x 12 mm Kath Libbert Gallery, Salts Mill, Bradford - UK.
Galerie Louise Smit, Amsterdam - Holland.
 XAVIER INES MONCLUS
Jewellery to play with or toys to wear? Xavier Ines
Monclús flirts with this ambiguity as he takes his
jewellery to the limits of wearability. Inspired by
everyday life and the careful appropriation of pictures
and objects from a childhood world, he has created a
universe inhabited by strange inventions; senseless
machines with Dadaist echoes and hybrids drawn
from animals and architecture.
Mónica Gaspar

“Life’s long, baby”

“La espelmeta inalterable”

58 x 35 x 9 mm
22
 Born Barcelona, Spain - 1973.
Address C/Valencia 320, Principal 1a, 08009
Barcelona, Spain.

Studies
1993 - 1996 Escola Massana: Jewellery, engraving and sculpture.
1999 - 2000 “Escola del Gremi de Joïers de Catalunya”
stone setting.

Exhibitions

Plastic, silver, steel 4cm x 2cm 1997 “El Jardin del Edén”, Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
1998 Cultural space “Yastá” - Barcelona.
2000 Convent dels Angels, “WAP” - Barcelona.
“Encuentro entre dos”, Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
2001 Quer der Raum, Zürich - Switzerland.
Sofie Lachaert, Tielrode - Belgium.
2002 Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona..
2002 “El Broche” Forvm, Ferlandina - Barcelona.
2002 Contacto Directo, Lisboa - Portugal.

Plastic, silver, steel 5cm x 5cm

 MARC MONZO
In order to enrich and intensify our perception of reality in a world that has been over-
saturated by impersonal objects, it is essential that we recover our ability to stare in awe
and wonder at the seemingly insignificant. The jewels that Monzó creates from scratch
share some of this strange, experienced, yet shunned beauty of the objet trouvé. Thus we
find that his painted brooches have suffered an aggression of some kind - a ‘life
experience’- in a series of deep scratches or incisions, drafted by the jeweller with
exquisite delicacy, despite their brutal appearance.”
From ‘Hans Stofer - Marc Monzó or The immaterial value of Jewellery’ by Mónica Gaspar

24
Born Argentina.
Address Escuelas Pías 6, Bajos, 08017
Barcelona, Spain.

Studies Jewellery design at the Escola Massana and Escuela

de Artes y Oficios, Llotja, Barcelona.
Phd: History of Art.

Currently professor of Art Theory at the University

Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.

Exhibitions
2001 Galería Alicia Ventura - Barcelona.
2002 Galería Art Centre - Barcelona.
 ESTELA OCAMPO
I look for an abstract form of expression, mainly geometrical, and for textures including the
colour of gemstones or the combination of metals in pieces which offer new formal
alternatives without contradicting the traditional concept of the jewel.

26
Born Argentina - 1956.
Address Travessera de Gracia 261, 3º, 2a. 08024
Barcelona, Spain.

Studies Escuela de Bellas Artes Lino Spilimbergo,

Cordoba, Argentina.
Escuela de Teatro Universidad Nacional,
Cordoba, Argentina.

Experience
1973 Working professionally in Argentina, Mexico, Holland, USA,
Switzerland, Italy and Spain in the areas of crafts,
ornaments, theatre, costume and accessories.
1989 Concentrating on jewellery, self taught. Working with
precious metals after exploring the potential of non-precious
materials such as: plastic, paper, textiles, cotton, watch and
computer components, painted wood, ceramic and
glass beads.

Exhibitions
1988 Salon of young talents, Paris - France.
1994 Cicatrice, Lausanne - Switzerland.
1996 Roskilde Museum, Roskilde - Denmark.
1999 Muramuto Gallery, Okayama - Japan.
2000 Hipòtesi, Barcelona.
2002 Kath Libbert, Salts Mill, Bradford - UK.
 SILVIA PIVA
“Objects, marvellous for
their rarity, beauty,
splendour, magical or
miraculous qualities,
frequently appear in myths,
legends or folk tales. They
are invincible arms and
talismans, but they are
nothing more than
artworks, which bring luck
to their owner”
J.E.Cirlot “Diccionario
de símbolos”

Photographs Blai Carda

28
 Born Lleida, Catalunya - 1968.
Address Oxida Joies, C/ Corregidor Escofet 10, 25005
Lleida, Spain.

Studies
1994 Graduated from Escola Massana - Jewellery.
1995 Official graduation from La Llotja - Jewellery.
1999 Opened own gallery OXIDA Joies in Lleida. Specialising in
jewellery design, individual artists and contemporary work.
6”
tto
pe Exhibitions
Ge
ra 1996 Café Parisien, Artá, Mallorca.
pa
te Galerie Borax - Zürich.
ien
end 1997 Schmuck ’97 - München.
“P
1998 Aromatica - Tokio, Nagagoya and Kobe.
2000 Balanced, Antwerpen - Belgium.
Encuentro entre dos, Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
2001 Museu de l’Art de la Pell, Vic - Barcelona.
Joies Sala d’exposicions, Lleida - Catalunya.
2002 Quer der raum - Zürich.
El Broche, Forvm Ferlandina - Barcelona.
Contacto Directo, Lisboa - Portugal.
Euromix, Kath Libbert Jewellery, Bradford - UK.
TENSI SOLSONA I FIGOLS
My intention in this work is to create a
visual language by means of
manipulating particular objects such as
old paintbrushes and carpenter’s
pencils. This formal and direct
intervention leads to the loss of original
context and natural function, creating in
the process small “object poems” that “Tu”

suggest different metaphors.

“Autorretrato” “Pendiente para Gepetto 4”

30
Born Bogotá, Colombia.
Address Jaume Fabra 8 - 10, 1º, 2a, 08004
Barcelona, Spain.

Studies
1991 - 92 Jewellery apprentice in Urs Liechti’s workshop,
Berne, Switzerland.
1992 - 96 Jewellery design course, Escola Massana,
Barcelona, Spain.
1997 - 98 Post Graduate “Of Massana”, Pueblo Español,
Barcelona, Spain.

Exhibitions
2000 “Himmel and Helvede”, Aurum Gallery,
Copenhagen - Denmark.
2001 “El Laboratori de la joieria”, Museu d’Arts
Decoratives - Barcelona.
“Jewellery from Barcelona”, Velvet da Vinci Gallery,
San Francisco - USA.
2002 “Distinct-Distinto”, Kath Libbert Gallery, Salts Mill,
Bradford - UK.
MILENA TRUJILLO ACOSTA
The inspiration: everyday corners inhabited by transitory people. Places
where looks, gestures and casual encounters happen; areas of urban
activity where unexpected moments can exist. The result: small worlds,
half full, half empty that oscillate between reality and fantasy.

32
 THANK YOU
I would like to thank the following galleries
and individuals for their help
and patience with this project

Kath Libbert
Kath Libbert Jewellery, Salts Mill, Saltaire, Bradford, Yorks

Beatriz Würsht
Forvm Ferlandina, C/ Ferlandina 31, Barcelona

Maria Lluisa Samaranch, Anne Michie

Hipòtesi, C/ Rambla de Catalunya 105, Barcelona

Lali Mensa
Alea, C/Argenteria 66, Barcelona

Mónica Gaspar
Orfebres FAD, Plaça dels Àngels 5 i 6, Barcelona

Xavier Ines Monclús

For his tireless research and informed guided tours of Barcelona

Gemma Bownes, Julia Smith, Josiah Lee

Brochure design, HND Graphic Design, City College Manchester

Jim Grainger
New Technology for Designers, City College Manchester

© Sarah O’Hana 2003 e-mail: sohana@ccm.ac.uk 34

£5.00