Giedymin Jabłoński is one of the most recognised artists and promoters of amber, also a co-founder of the International Amber Association. His achievements both in artistic work using amber as a favourite material, initiated as early as in the 1970s, and in the promotion of amber in scientific and didactic work, are considerable. He is the author of the internationally recognised l ogotype identifying the Association and the initiator of the concept of organising an international amber fair in Gdańsk, which - developed by a team of consultants of which he was a member - still functions today under the name AMBERIF. He is also the originator and first curator of the International Competition for the Design of Jewellery with Amberif Design Award and author of the designation of Gdańsk as the World Amber Capital.
Giedymin Jablonski is also the originator and curator of many artistic projects, exhibitions, competitions and workshops devoted to amber, including „Amber in Good Hands”, „Amber & Leonardo” (z Wojciech Kalandyk), competition Amber Trip Art Jewellery Competition in Vilnius. He also collaborated with the Art Gallery in Legnica, organiser of the internationally acclaimed Legnica SILVER Festival, and was the Grand Prix winner of the KRĄG International Competition for the Art of Goldsmithing in 2003.
The artist is also active as an academic lecturer at art academies, including the PWSSP/ASP Gdańsk, Vilniaus Dailes Akademija, and the Royal College of Art in London. He has now been working at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław for eight years. As part of this work, Jabłoński always introduces amber into the curriculum of both theoretical and practical classes.
Giedymin Jablonski's oeuvre includes numerous publications on the subject of amber, e.g. in publications promoting Poland's EU Presidency. The main achievements of the past year include the launch of the „Faeton's Fall” project at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław in collaboration with the MSB and participation in the creation of an album published by the MSB. „Baltic Amber. Nature. History. Culture”, for which he wrote the chapter „Amber in contemporary art”.
The artist's works can be seen in numerous museums in Poland and around the world, including. The artist's works can be seen in numerous museums in Poland and abroad, including the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in London, the Deutsches Bernsteinmuseum in Ribnitz-Damgarten, the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, the Alice and Louis Koch Collection / Palm Springs Art Museum, the Castle Museum in Malbork, the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk, the Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszyński in Warsaw, the Amber Museum in Gdańsk, the Museum of the Bohemian Paradise in Turnov, the Vatican Museums, the Museum of the Earth in Warsaw, the Museum in Gliwice and the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk.
The chapter of the Amber of the Year Award recognised his immense and long-standing commitment to the promotion of amber, particularly in the field of conceptual jewellery and modern art, by awarding him the honour of Amber of the Year 2023.
Previous winners of the Amber of the Year award:
2022: Sebastian Tajl
2021: Olena Belichenko
2020: Marcin Wesołowski
2019: Michał Kosior
2018: Ryszard Szadziewski
2017: Jacek Szwedo
2016: Zoya Kostyashova
2015: Ewa Wagner-Wysiecka
2014: Ryszard Uliński
2013: Gabriela Gierłowska
2012: Tomasz Mikołajczyk and Mariusz Gliwiński
2011: Lucjan Myrta
2010: Anna Sado
2009: Slawomir Fijałkowski
2008: Regina Kramarska
2007: Elisabeth Sontag
2006: Andrzej Wiszniewski
2005: Marek Gutowski
2004: Wojciech Kalandyk
2003: Adam Pstrągowski
2002: Ewa Rachoń
2001: Kazimieras Mizgiris
2000: Jan Koteja
1999: Mariusz Drapikowski
The Amber of the Year title is awarded for outstanding achievements in the fields:
- artistic creativity
- research
- popularising knowledge of amber
- technical progress
- economic efficiency
- social work in the amber community
- collecting natural specimens and amber artefacts.
Candidates for the title are put forward by members of the International Amber Association.