The exhibition takes you through the history of Polish artistic jewellery from the 1940s to the present day. It shows it through the prism of both materials and ideas. We will see works made from wood, leather, ceramics, copper, silver, plastic, as well as from readymade objects or natural „finds”. From humble ornaments of post-war everyday life, through modern sculptural forms and technical experiments to objects on the borderline of conceptual design, each of these realisations is a testimony to its time.
The common denominator of the works on display is a constant search: the language of form, meaning, material. The exhibition shows how jewellery acted on emotions and imagination, but also how it became a carrier of ideas - from ethnographic and archaeological inspirations, through engaged art, to protest jewellery. The exhibition ranges from brooches with folk motifs to resistors worn during martial law or the most recent creations relating to current social themes.
A key part of the story is the artists themselves - often working in duos or continuing family traditions, such as the Zaremskis, Rohns and Kozubskis. The exhibition includes works by pioneers such as Józef Fajngold, Mamert Celmiński, Jadwiga and Jerzy Zaremski, as well as artists associated with important creative communities such as Group Six, UFO or Au+. There are also projects by artists for whom jewellery was a side form of expression - realised alongside painting, printmaking or sculpture.
There were also stories of the people who wore this jewellery. Artists, social activists, politicians - their choices have made the works of Polish designers witnesses to important events. One example is the necklace made by the Gdańsk-based artist Giedymin Jablonski, in which Danuta Wałęsa received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of her husband. The exhibition will feature the author's replica of the lost original.
The exhibition is complemented by photographs, posters, women's press and old handbooks - materials that show how jewellery functioned in everyday life: as decoration, souvenir, manifesto or symbol of resistance.
The exhibition „Project: artistic jewellery” is a broad overview of forms, materials and creative attitudes, and at the same time a reflection on what jewellery has been and what it can be. It shows it as an artefact, a sign of the times, a personal message - proof that a small object can convey an extraordinary amount.
Designers/Designers:
Andrzej Bandkowski, Karolina Bik, Marcin Bogusław, Daniela Bukowska, Jacek Byczewski, Bogumił Bytomski, Grzegorz Błażko, Mamert Celmiński, Bartosz M. Chmielewski, Andrzej Ciechomski, Hanna Czajkowska, Danuta Czapnik, Ewa Czarnota-Zaremska, Józef Czerwosz, Magdalena Czerwosz, Danuta Duszniak, Józef Fajngold, Michał Fatyga, Henryk Grunwald, Lucyna Hubert-Nieniewska, Marek Huculak, Giedymin Jabłoński, Filip Jackowski, Tomasz Jagiełło, Anna Januszkiewicz-Bandkowska, Joanna Jaworska, Tadeusz Jaworski, Paweł Kaczyński, Małgorzata Kalińska, Stanisław Kędzierski, Danuta Kobielska, Julia Kotarbińska, Jakub Kozik, Aleksandra Kozłowska, Zofia Kozubska, Witold Kozubski, Karina Królak, Bolesław Książek, Jadwiga Kucharska, Zdzisław Lenart, Weronika Majewska, Aleksandra Mamoń, Magdalena Maślerz, Piotr Małysz, Maja Mrozińska, Andrzej Mroziński, Marek Nałęcz-Nieniewski, Marta Noszka, Marek Nowaczyk, Jacek Ostrowski, Mariusz Pajączkowski, Karolina Palczuk, Urszula Podbielska-Kowalska, Paweł Podbielski-Kowalski, Pracownia Brokat, Jacek A. Rochacki, Kamilla Rohn, Ludmiła Rohn, Ryszard Rohn, Józef Różycki, Ewa Rudowska, Jolanta Ryba-Ołdachowska, Wojciech Rygało, Jerzy Sendłak, Stanisław Sikora, Michał Smyka, Joachim Sokólski, Magdalena Stajszczak, Tomasz Stajszczak, Jerzy Stolarski, Jan Suchodolski, Andrzej Szadkowski, Jerzy Szkrabko, Kazimiera Szymańska, Michał Ślusarczyk, Sława Tchórzewska, Iwona Trela-Mroziuk, Marcin Tymiński, Olgierd Vetesco, Leszek Weiss, Tomasz Wichrowski, Arek Wolski, Alicja Wyganowska, Jakub Wyganowski, Michał Wysocki, Jadwiga Zaremska, Antek Zaremski, Jerzy Zaremski, Łukasz Zaremski, Marcin Zaremski, Tomasz Zaremski, Hanna Zdanowska, Jacek Zdanowski, Ella Żubrowska
EXHIBITION „Design: artistic jewellery”
07.11.2025 – 08.03.2026
Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń
Curator: Anna Wiszniewska