Jewelry of Ideas

The consummate Susan Grant Lewin Collection - recently donated to Cooper Hewitt - captures the diversity and achievements of contemporary art jewellery with nearly 150 significant works from the last 15 years by designers from the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. The brooches, necklaces and rings reveal how these contemporary jewellers have revolutionised the medium in transforming jewellery conventions as expressions of our time. Descriptions of specific works demonstrate that while the mastery of materials and techniques is critical to the creative process, it is not an end in itself, but only the means to accomplish an aesthetic vision. Process statements from each designer and a full gallery of the jewellery accompany the narrative sequence of extraordinary, stirring, unique pieces. Published to accompany the Exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York (US), 17 November 2017-28 May 2018.