We are pleased to announce that 268 artists from 42 countries took part in the 33rd International Jewellery Competition "WOW Effect!". Thank you for your submissions! On February 13-14, 2025, the Jury selected works by 44 artists from 22 countries which will make up the post-competition exhibition.
Post-competition exhibition will be presented in the frame of the Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER in the Gallery of Art in Legnica from April to July 2025.
The Grand Opening of the Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER and the announcement of the winners will take place on May 9-10, 2025. Until then, information about the awards remains secret.
List of participants qualified for the exhibition:
- Justyna Anioł – Poland
- Miriam Arentz – Germany
- Michael Berger – Germany
- Isabelle Busnel – France
- Xinyi Chen – China/UK
- Elvira Cibotti – Argentina
- Ewa Cieniak – Poland
- Elsa De Graef – Belgium
- Arianaz Dehghan – Iran/Germany
- Elisabeth Drude – Germany
- Donald Friedlich – USA
- Martyna Golińska – Poland
- Julia Groos – Germany
- Maja Houtman – The Netherlands
- Marcin Janta – Poland
- Christina Karababa – Greece / Germany
- Eszter Sara Kocsor – Hungary
- Sergiusz Kuchczyński – Poland
- Malene Kastalje – Denmark
- Ji Young Kim – South Korea
- Karolina & Beata Legierskie – Poland
- Carolina Lutz – Germany
- Fanni Nagy – Hungary
- Into Niilo – Belgium
- Michalina Owczarek-Siwak – Poland
- Neringa Poškutė – Lithuania
- Konstanze Prechtl – Austria
- Helena Sandström – Sweden
- Nora Sarlak – Spain
- Rudolf M. Scheffold – Germany
- Yegyu Shin – South Korea
- Luca Sonnentag – Germany
- Stanisław Sulik – Poland
- Ludmila Šikolova – Czech Republic
- Rho Tang – USA
- Katharina Anna Thomas – The Netherlands
- Youjin Um – South Korea
- Klára Valušková – Slovakia
- Dariusz Wojdyga – Poland/Norway
- Daria Wollman – Poland
- Emilia Wyra – Poland
- Jiayang Xie – China
- Antal Zilahi – Hungary
The works rejected by the jury will be traditionally presented at the Holownia exhibition during the Festival in the Old City Hall in Legnica, so that the audience has the opportunity to compare their own opinions with the jury's verdict. Artists can resign from participating in the Holownia exhibition.
Jury of the competition:
Eva Fernandez Martos (Spain / United Kingdom)
Graduated from the Edinburgh University in Jewellery Design (Scotland). Currently a jewellery and digital designer at the Nottingham Trent University (England). Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including: Schmuck (Germany), Collect Art Fair (UK), CODA Museum (The Netherlands), Galerie Marzee (The Netherlands), Beijing International Art Jewellery (China). Winner of the Gran Prix at the 32nd International Jewellery Competition EMPATHY in Legnica (2024), Brussels Jewellery Week Award at Budapest Jewellery Week (2022), twice the finalist of Enjoia’t Contemporary Jewellery Award, Spain (2017, 2021).
Märta Mattsson (Sweden)
Jewellery artist, graduate of the Royal College of Art, London (2010) and HDK in Gothenburg, where she then lectured from 2018-2021. Participant of student exchanges in Tokyo and Rhode Island, USA. Author of over 20 solo exhibitions worldwide. Winner of the Young Applied Artists Award in Sweden (2016). She has given workshops and lectures in countries like China, Belgium, Mexico, Thailand, USA, Sweden and Latvia. Her works are in prestigious collections such as MAD – Museum of Art and Design, New York. Märta’s jewellery explores the tension between attraction and repulsion, transforming everyday objects.
Barbara Schmidt (Germany)
Jewellery designer, educator, Head of the Cultural Department at the Chamber of Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria (since 2023). Graduate of Design Management at the University Central England in Birmingham and the Staatliche Zeichenakademie in Hanau (Germany). Curator of the Amber Design Award. Author of publications, including 25 Reasons why we wear Jewellery (2018) and 350 Words for Jewellery (2022). With extensive experience in jewellery design and project management, Barbara collaborates with galleries around the world.
Sławomir Fijałkowski (Poland)
Professor of fine arts, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Łódź (Poland) – Jewellery Design. He has worked in many private and public academies, currently leading the Experimental Design Studio at the Faculty of Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. He deals with product and jewellery design in collaboration with recognized manufacturers and author’s design. Participant, organizer and curator of many jewellery and design exhibitions, author of texts, analysis, theoretical and scientific descriptions, as well as educational programs in the field of contemporary jewellery. A curator of the International Jewellery Competition and a general consultant of the Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER for over 20 years.
Paweł Kaczyński (Poland)
Goldsmith, sculptor, graphic designer. Graduate of the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. Since 1992 member of the Polish Association of Sculptors. Since 1995 a member of the Association of Goldsmiths, and since 2022 of the International Amber Association. Has more than 30 years of experience in jewellery design. The individual character of his works is the result of many experiments with goldsmithing techniques, the search for new properties of metals and individual technical solutions. He has participated in more than a hundred jewellery exhibitions. Winner of the Grand Prix of the 28th International Jewellery Competition SILVER in Legnica (2019). In 2014 honored with the “Designer of the 25th Anniversary” medal.
Is art supposed to be a WOW effect? Is jewellery supposed to be it? After the post-humanist turn, the emptiness and delusion of discourses in the crisis of humanity, we no longer expect jewellery to be just pessimistic malediction and dystopian prophecies, but also hope, a light at the end of the tunnel, an antidote to wipe away apocalyptic tears. A magic wand that will make the world seem a more beautiful place than it actually is. We expect a WOW effect!
Justyna Teodorczyk, PhD
Why a theme at all?
Of course, we would like the efforts of artists, designers, jewellery makers - especially those connected with the preparation of a new competition entry - to focus on socially and culturally important issues. It is about the quality of the exhibition itself, but also about a pretext for discussions in which not only politicians, activists and opinion leaders should have their say.
The theme is important.
It introduces ordering criteria, facilitates comparisons, provokes reflection. We determined this many years ago, and we consistently adhere to this principle, while observing that the responses are becoming increasingly superficial, safely uncontroversial, politically and aesthetically correct.
But...
...perhaps it is in the area of aesthetics, which has been neglected recently, that it is most difficult today to come up with innovative solutions
– that WOW! effect – surprising, inspiring, unprecedented?
Surely it is still possible!
Even in jewellery / especially in jewellery.
Prof. Sławomir Fijałkowski
