For years, the AMBERIF DESIGN AWARD has showcased Baltic amber as a medium for contemporary artistic expression - open to experimentation, dialogue with other materials, technologies and ideas. This year's theme encourages exploration at the intersection of nature and innovation, tradition and the future, craftsmanship and process.
Amber, with its organic structure, record of time and ability to react to light, temperature or touch, becomes a pretext for a story of transformation, energy and experience. Its use in the competition work is a prerequisite, with full freedom to choose other materials.
Plastic performance
„The Magic of Matter” is also a question about the causality of material - whether matter is merely a carrier of ideas or perhaps a co-creator of form. Projects can explore its physicality and ephemerality, its interaction with the body, as well as its relationship with new media, sound, movement or algorithm. AMBERIF DESIGN AWARD remains a competition open to diverse creative attitudes and individual interpretations of the theme.
We encourage bold formal and conceptual explorations, to explore the essence of structure, decomposition, combination and transformation, to break the classical hierarchies between the natural and the technological, the soft and the hard, the permanent and the ephemeral. We expect projects that do not just decorate, but communicate, record and transform. In which meaning is born between matter and man - in experience, gesture, relationship. Which will show the contemporary magic of amber and its potential for the future," declare the organisers.
Competition, jury and exhibition
The competition entries will be judged by an international jury of renowned artists, curators, art historians and art college lecturers. During the evaluation, the jury will take into account: the author's interpretation of the theme, the artistic value of the work and the innovative use of amber.
Entries are accepted in the form of photographs or digital visualisations - in this form they will be assessed at the competition stage. Authors of works qualified for the exhibition are obliged to send their finished objects.
The list of those shortlisted for the exhibition will be announced on 20 February 2026. The most interesting designs will be presented at an exhibition accompanying the AMBERIF Spring 2026 International Amber and Jewellery Fair in Gdansk, a city where amber has been an important part of cultural identity for centuries. The exhibition will be accompanied by a digital catalogue, and the shortlisted works will take part in a year-long tour of galleries in Poland and abroad.
Awards
The competition includes prizes awarded by both the jury and funders.
Jury Awards:
- Main Prize of the Mayor of the City of Gdansk - PLN 30 000 gross
- Silver Award - 1 kg of silver and a stand at the Amberif Spring 2027 Fair
- Distinction of the Jury
Founders' Awards:
- International Amber Association Amber Award - 1 kg of amber
- YES Gallery Award - 0.5 kg of silver
A space for dialogue
The AMBERIF DESIGN AWARD International Competition for Jewellery Design with Amber is a space for dialogue and exchange of ideas about contemporary jewellery using Baltic amber. For 29 years, the competition has successfully pursued the goal of promoting Baltic amber as a means of expression with directly unlimited creative possibilities. Also this year, it is an invitation to creative reflection on amber matter - its potential, symbolism and magic that is born in the process of creation.
29th International Competition for the Design of Jewellery with Amber AMBERIF DESIGN AWARD „Magic of Matter”.”
Organised by: Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie SA
Competition curator: Barbara Schmidt
Competition coordinator: Monika Szpatowicz
Deadline for submission of work: 8.02.2026
For more information on this topic: Amberif Design Award