Local Heroes: Still Lifes at New York City Jewelry Week

With the largest and most diverse showcase of talent, ideas and jewellery in one virtual week, New York City Jewelry Week offered Local Heroes the perfect platform for their first international show

Feature by Stacey Hunter | 07 Dec 2020

A recent report on The Market for Craft noted that jewellery tops the leaderboard for craft sales with an estimated value in Scotland of £53m in 2020. And with 2.5m people in New York and 1.7m in Los Angeles having purchased craft from a UK-based maker, it’s clear that the US is an important marketplace for designers and makers. Curating design is a cultural project but it also has a commercial context that we believe is crucial to acknowledge. This year many of the world’s design festivals postponed their programmes, but New York City Jewelry Week (NYCJW) was determined to rise to the challenges of 2020 and rather than shrinking, it expanded its exploration of all things jewellery beyond New York's borders and across the globe with the first ever virtual jewellery week.

Partnering with the Incorporation of Goldsmiths, we wanted to do something ambitious and beautiful; an opulent and innovative jewellery exhibition seemed like the perfect foil to the ennui-inducing privations of lockdown. We launched an open call and together with an expert panel selected six modern designers who use ethically sourced materials – Soizig Carey, Ruth Leslie, Silvia Weidenbach, Michelle Currie, Alison Macleod, and Heather Woof.

Inspired by the rich tradition of still life painting, we created individual compositions using handmade plaster objects by Chalk Plaster and a selection of luxurious fabrics. The idea was to encourage audiences to take pause, and appreciate the craftsmanship and precision within this elegant and eclectic collection of jewellery. Styled by Local Heroes curator Stacey Hunter and photographed by Gabriela Silveira the exhibition maintains the importance of physically constructing a scene even when the destination is digital.

Still Lifes offers audiences in New York – and internationally – a glimpse of what’s new and fresh about contemporary jewellery from Scotland. See the whole collection at localheroes.design and watch recordings of two special live events that were originally broadcast by NYCJW.