Bold Jewelry

The exhibition Bold Jewelry | the 7th Biennial Bijou Sauvage is all about the jewel without any restrictions or rules.

The Biennale Bijou Sauvage is an initiative of the Wesel Art Gallery. It was first organised in May 1990 by jewelry designer Claude Wesel.
Sauvage: as occurring in nature, unrestrained, tempestuous, uncultivated, no longer under control (dictionary definition).
A number of designers were asked back then to design a piece of jewelry in which they could completely indulge themselves, against all the conventions and usual rules.
“Avoid working the way you always do. Go in search of what you know least about yourself. Be an iconoclast and rid yourself of the academic straightjacket”.
The result was both a confrontation and a dialogue among the most divergent of inspirational sources and styles.
Bijou Sauvage stimulates the jewelry designer to create a piece of jewelry in his or her own, highly individual manner. The universal aspect leads many to rediscover their relationship with art, to reach, unrestricted, the deepest layers of their artistic ability.
“All risks are fair if they protect our soul from death” (Claude Wesel)

Design Flanders has made the guide “Treasure Hunt. Jewel Galleries in Brussels and Flanders – an choice”, to make sure you are well-informed if looking for the right jewel.

Bold Jewelry:The judging-committee
Siegfried De Buck, juweelontwerper; Bernard François, Galerie Néon; Johan Valcke, directeur Design Vlaanderen; Jan Walgrave, kunsthistoricus; Claude Wesel, Wesel Art Gallery

Bold Jewelry: The designers
Siegfried De Buck | Daan De Decker | Alain Debono | Marie-Claire Desmedt | Saskia Detering | Silke Fleischer | Bernard François | Marie Paule Haar | Delphine Joly | Rembrandt Jordan | Maëlle Laduron | Mei Lee | Jorge Manilla Navarrete | Patrick Marchal | Thomas Palme | Elke Peeters | Claude Renard | Alain Roggeman | Evelien Sipkes | Emile Souply | Doris Stein | Gwennaël Thérasse | Roos Van de Velde | Willy Van de Velde | Hilde Van der Heyden | Nelly van Oost | Peter Vermandere | Tine Vindevogel | Daniel von Weinberger | Julien Walraedt | Marcel Warrand | Claude Wesel  | Antoine Van Loocke 

Scenography
Fabienne Wesel

Catalogue (4-colours, bound, 75 pages, 15 EUR)
Under the supervision of Bernard François and Fabienne Wesel

The exhibtion is open from 3 December until 31 December in the Design Flanders Gallery, Kanselarijstraat 19, B-1000 BRUSSELS (near the Saint-Michael Cathedral)
Open: Tuesday to Friday from 12 noon to 5 pm (closes at 4 pm on 24 and 31 December; Saturdays and Sundays from 1 pm to 5 pm. Closed on Mondays and public holidays (25 and 26 December 2010).