Dear Social Club Members,

Thank you for your continued support in 2026. Following recent updates to our current-obsession.com website and the launch of the new Current Obsession Store, we are also making an important improvement to Social Club memberships.

This change is designed to make your experience simpler, clearer, and more convenient in the future.

Why are we making this change?

At the moment, your subscription is managed through a third-party platform called Steady. From this year onwards, all subscriptions will move directly to the Current Obsession website.

By bringing everything into one place, you will be able to:

• log in and access the member-only content directly on the CO website

• shop in the CO Store

• easily manage your account and personal details

• view your purchase history

all through one single account, without needing to switch between different websites.

This change will also allow us to offer you a smoother, more personalised customer experience in the future.

What will happen to your current subscription?

This January, we are officially ending our partnership with Steady subscription provider.

You will receive an email from Steady confirming the cancellation.

Please note:

This does not mean your current subscription ends immediately.

It simply means that your existing subscription will not renew automatically once it expires.

You will continue to have access as usual during your current active subscription period once you activate your new account via current-obsession.com

How to move your membership to our website?

Between 16 January and 16 February 2026, you will be able to move your membership to the Current Obsession website.

To do this, you simply need to:

• Go to https://current-obsession.com/my-account/
• Choose ‘Lost your password?’
• Enter the same email address you used when registering via Steady. You will receive a link to create a new password via the indicated email.
• After confirming the new password, log into ‘My Account’ on Current Obsession website.

That’s it!

We’ve prepared a step-by-step guide, which you can find via this link. The process is very straightforward and should take no more than two minutes.

Once completed, your membership access will be transferred automatically, and you will continue to see locked content as usual.

What happens when your current subscription ends?

When your existing subscription period expires, you will need to:

• choose a new membership plan on Current Obsession website

• enter your payment details directly via your Current Obsession account

This step is necessary because, for security and privacy reasons, we are not allowed to transfer any payment information from Steady to our own system.

A thank you for making the move with us

To thank you for migrating your membership and supporting us during this transition, we will send all Social Club members who move to our website a special gift:

• Munich Jewellery Week Paper 2026

• Current Obsession tote bag

These will be dispatched free of charge in March 2026.

Need help?

If you experience any difficulties or have questions at any point, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly at:

veronika@current-obsession.com

We’re very happy to help!

Thank you for being part of our community and for growing with us as we continue to improve the platform for you.

Warm regards,

The Current Obsession Team

Dear Social Club Members,

Thank you for your continued support in 2026. Following recent updates to our current-obsession.com website and the launch of the new Current Obsession Store, we are also making an important improvement to Social Club memberships.

This change is designed to make your experience simpler, clearer, and more convenient in the future.

Why are we making this change?

At the moment, your subscription is managed through a third-party platform called Steady. From this year onwards, all subscriptions will move directly to the Current Obsession website.

By bringing everything into one place, you will be able to:

• log in and access the member-only content directly on the CO website

• shop in the CO Store

• easily manage your account and personal details

• view your purchase history

all through one single account, without needing to switch between different websites.

This change will also allow us to offer you a smoother, more personalised customer experience in the future.

What will happen to your current subscription?

This January, we are officially ending our partnership with Steady subscription provider.

You will receive an email from Steady confirming the cancellation.

Please note:

This does not mean your current subscription ends immediately.

It simply means that your existing subscription will not renew automatically once it expires.

You will continue to have access as usual during your current active subscription period once you activate your new account via current-obsession.com

How to move your membership to our website?

Between 16 January and 16 February 2026, you will be able to move your membership to the Current Obsession website.

To do this, you simply need to:

• Go to https://current-obsession.com/my-account/
• Choose ‘Lost your password?’
• Enter the same email address you used when registering via Steady. You will receive a link to create a new password via the indicated email.
• After confirming the new password, log into ‘My Account’ on Current Obsession website.

That’s it!

We’ve prepared a step-by-step guide, which you can find via this link. The process is very straightforward and should take no more than two minutes.

Once completed, your membership access will be transferred automatically, and you will continue to see locked content as usual.

What happens when your current subscription ends?

When your existing subscription period expires, you will need to:

• choose a new membership plan on Current Obsession website

• enter your payment details directly via your Current Obsession account

This step is necessary because, for security and privacy reasons, we are not allowed to transfer any payment information from Steady to our own system.

A thank you for making the move with us

To thank you for migrating your membership and supporting us during this transition, we will send all Social Club members who move to our website a special gift:

• Munich Jewellery Week Paper 2026

• Current Obsession tote bag

These will be dispatched free of charge in March 2026.

Need help?

If you experience any difficulties or have questions at any point, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly at:

veronika@current-obsession.com

We’re very happy to help!

Thank you for being part of our community and for growing with us as we continue to improve the platform for you.

Warm regards,

The Current Obsession Team

Dear Social Club Members!

Just in time for the close of 2025, we’re here one last time with this year’s members newsletter to say thank you to all our supportive CO subscribers. Without you, it wouldn’t be possible to commission and seek out talented writers, artists and designers, or to continue bringing you fresh perspectives and new obsessions to dive into.

To keep you inspired and in good company during the cosy winter break, we’ve gathered a selection of new articles for your holiday reading.

See you in 2026. ✨

CONVERSATION BETWEEN CRAFTS

Interview by Dominika Szmidt

Ideas rarely sit still in the minds and hands of artists. They shift, expand, and gather new meanings, especially as they pass from one person to the next. OTHERSELVES is built upon this very principle: a dialogue across three crafts. What begins as a drawing evolves into a carved gemstone and eventually becomes a necklace once suspended from a chain. Each piece becomes a product of three interpretations, three imaginations, and three pairs of hands shaping a single idea.

Born from passion, talent, and technical mastery, OTHERSELVES stands as a testament to what can happen when three creatives combine their energies toward a shared concept. Noon Passama, Suthipa Kamyam, and Detelina Ivanova do not merely contribute to a piece – they reinterpret one another’s work.

Continue reading here.

FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO VIRAL MEMES OF LOCKTOBER

Article by Miguel Garchitorena & Elena Zaghis

This collaborative article by Garchitorena and Zaghis is a bawdy and rambunctious read, chronicling the history of the chastity belt from its satirical inception to its contemporary use in the online manosphere.

The chastity belt was first mentioned in Bellifortis, Konrad Kyeser’s 1405 war manual that humorously depicts military magic, absurd siege weapons, and wall-scaling devices – essentially a medieval shitpost compendium. It was satire, a joke about paranoid husbands, never an actual historical practice. It doubled as a metaphor marking the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, suggesting a refinement of noble values. The belt itself, however, was always fiction.

Continue reading here.

EARRINGS AS MONUMENTS TO LOVE AND LOSS

Interview by Lara Chapman

Earrings are some of the smallest objects we own. Their humble size makes them easy to overlook. Their complex stories and meanings can be lost, given away or packed up and forgotten in the nooks and crannies where they are stored. But what happens when a pair of earrings is blown up in scale? What would a 2-metre earring look like? What stories would it reveal?

These are some of the questions that artist Monica Rani Rudhar explores in her deeply personal art practice, which revolves around creating oversized terracotta sculptures of jewellery that has been passed down, gifted or sold in her family.

Continue reading here.

UPCOMING

• Munich Jewellery Week 2026

• Digital Publishing 2026: a series of 12 new articles on the theme of Underworld

• Current Obsession Store: new featured artists

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

OBSESSED! Jewellery Festival is upon us, kicking off with an opening ceremony today! Here’s an overview of all the events available to our Social Club Members this November. See you there!

PRE-GLOW

OBSESSED! Opening Ceremony

RSVP [here].

AFTER-GLOW

OBSESSED! Closing Ceremony

RSVP [here].

BEYOND THE SHINE

Panel Talk

Date: 7.11.2025

Event time: 18:30–21:30  

Location: Oscam Museum, Bijlmerplein 110, 1102 DB Amsterdam

Grillz are more than gold, Clothing are more than garments. They are history worn on the body. Rooted in hip-hop and Afro-diasporic culture, grillz speak of  pride, resistance, and belonging. They tell stories of where we come from and  how we choose to shine in spaces that were not built for us. 

This evening invites reflection and dialogue: How do we wear our culture? How does what we create become education for ourselves, for our communities, and for those who come after us? 

Moderator: Kalkidan Hoex; Speakers: Patricia Nganga Mokosi, Latoya Molly, Daniel Declercq

RSVP [here].

INHERITANCE

Symposium

Date: 8.11.2025

Time: 13:00-17:00

Venue: If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, WG-Plein 881, 1054 SM Amsterdam

OBSESSED! festival invites you to an intimate symposium hosted and at If I Can’t Dance by isabel wang pontoppidan. Exploring an expanded notion of inheritance, this symposium will provide three unique perspectives on jewellery as material, spiritual and psychological manifestations. 

This event emerges from the symbolic potential of jewellery: jewellery as materialisations of abstract ideas of value, status, culture, faith and family. Thinking through jewellery, the programme interrogates practices and ideologies that have trickled down through time to make up our historical present.

To secure your spot at the symposium, send an email to obsessed@current-obsession.com

TERET TERET

Event

Date: 9.11.2025

Time: 18:00–20:30

Location: Bar Bario, Bilderdijkstraat 186, 1053 LD Amsterdam

Teret Teret is an Ethiopian storytelling tradition where the storyteller and listener journey together into another world. This programme, developed by artist and curator Kalkidan Hoex (TheNEWtribe) in collaboration with Current Obsession and Rambler Studios, explores themes of identity, home, and personal growth. Glow Up can signify more than outward transformation, it can also reflect an inner movement toward community, culture, identity, social awareness, self-knowledge, and strength. How can jewellery and other media make our inner worlds visible to others? And why does this matter?

RSVP [here].

GEMZ: WET

Book Launch & Exhibition Opening

Date: 14.11.2025

Time: 19:00

Location: De Kunstfabriek, Weena 699, 3013 AP Rotterdam

The third cycle of Current Obsession’s Talent Accelerator Programme, GEMZ, reaches its grand finale. From 57 international participants, 6 emerging talents – Stefan Boerkamp (NL), Ruochong Cheng (CN), Tina Jiao (CN), rae richards (US), Anna Rusínová (CZ) and Zoé Kiner-Wolff (FR) – unveil their never-before-seen speculative jewellery collections in a pop-up exhibition and accompanying book. Join us for a night of jewellery, music and celebration!

RSVP [here].

ARTIST TALK WITH ZOÉ KINER-WOLFF & STEFAN BOERKAMP

Discussion

Date: 21.11.2025

Time: 19:00-21:00

Location: De Kunstfabriek, Weena 699, 3013 AP Rotterdam

A late-night conversation with Stefan and Zoé, two of the GEMZ talents, discussing the concepts of body-tuning and body morphing, the symbiosis of craft, design and jewellery, and collaborative art practices.

No reservation needed.

Read more [here].

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club Members!

After a much-needed summer break, we’re here to keep you company during the chilly autumn days with some exciting new reads.

Here’s what you missed!

SMOOTH DOORWAYS

Article by Naomi Collier Broms

In central Laos, 10 km south-west of Phonsavan, thousands of giant sandstone jars can be seen protruding from the rolling hills of the region. Their shape is simple and cylindrical, their lichen-covered facades worn by weather and time. This place is known as the Plain of Jars. Spread across hundreds of square kilometers and dating back an estimated 2,600 years, the megalithic landscape strikes an ancient nerve. Something enchanting, strange, and palpably old hangs in the air. This feeling is perhaps only enhanced by the mystery and speculation surrounding the objects. Some archaeologists believe the jars to be urns; residual tombs from ancient burial sites. Other theories point to the objects as transitory vessels, used during the early stages of funerary rites before cremation took place.

Continue reading here.

NÆRVERK/NEARNESS

Art jewellery and wearable ideas

Jewellery is something most people feel a connection to. It’s intimate—closely tied to the body—and needs to be worn to be complete. More than just decoration, jewellery often expresses identity and how we want to be seen. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Norwegian Association for Craft Artists (Norske Kunsthåndverkere), gallery for contemporary art in Oslo Nitja has invited 39 influential and forward-thinking artists to take part in a large exhibition. The selected works span from 1975 to today, making connections across generations. Iconic pieces by established artists are shown alongside new approaches from a younger generation, offering a chance to see how small, wearable objects can embody bold artistic ideas. One of the three curators, Monica Holmen, takes Current Obsession on an exhibition walkthrough in a short interview.

Read more here.

DECODING IDENTITY

Article by Coco Simons

In the smallest room of the Cooper Hewitt’s Making Home triennial, the usual boundaries between exhibition and archive were intentionally loosened. The Underground Library, a site-specific installation by the Black Artists and Designers Guild (BADG), invited visitors to read, sit, and move through a space designed to resemble a domestic interior rather than a gallery. There were no vitrines, no signs asking visitors not to touch. Instead, design objects were presented as part of a lived-in environment: chairs, shelves, and tables that encouraged interaction, proximity, and reflection.

The Mwasi Armoire by designer Kim Mupangilaï stood on the north side of the room, tall and unobstructed. More than a cabinet, it appeared as a standing figure, a shield, a presence. It anchored the space not as a decorative object but as a kind of guardian, safeguarding the room much like a family relic might safeguard memory.

Continue reading here.

UPCOMING

• Open Call Designers in Residence 2026: 12 September - 3 November 2025

• Open Call For Writers 2026 by Current Obsession: opens 13 October - 8 December 2025

• #9 The Radical Surface activation: Inner/Outer Glow

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club Members!

Summer is on the doorstep, and before we all head off on our sunny holidays, we’d love to bring our cherished community together in person to celebrate the launch of our new magazine! ⭐

Plus, we’re kicking off our annual graduation series, SO MINT!, showcasing the very best from jewellery departments around the world, and we’ve handpicked a couple of new reads to enjoy on long summer evenings. Let’s dive in!

RADICAL SURFACE

The launch of Issue #9

Save the date!

When: Thursday, 26 June 2025, 19:00 - 22:00

Where: murmur, Aambeeldstraat 60, 1021 KB Amsterdam 

We are excited to invite you to a thought-provoking evening celebrating the newest issue of Current Obsession magazine, titled The Radical Surface!

Through our current research theme The Radical Surface – we reimagine the ‘human surface’ and various material and immaterial surfaces – skins – as sites of contestation and transcendence. Inspired by ‘radical imagination’ – ideas stemming from activism – it is a visionary capacity to perceive a future world that transcends current realities, envisioning a transformed and equitable society, challenging the status quo, and believing in the possibility of radical change.

During the evening, you can look forward to a performative reading by Jimena Casas and Constanza Castagnet, activating Nicholas J. Saunders’ texts Shimmering Worlds: A Sense of Brilliance and The Lightness of Being. They will explore the reflective qualities of sound and light, evoking through voice, field recordings and experimental sampling the multidimensional brilliance that embodies an expression of divine presence. The improvisational dialogues refract one another as the resonance and reflection of light and brilliance unfold.

Please don’t miss this special moment and the opportunity to pick up a copy of the two released chapters: Self-technology of Becoming, featuring the work of Bart Hess and Sedrig Verwoert, and Whakarākei: The Surface Of The Other, mapping the sublime jewellery and craft scene of New Zealand.

RSVP now!

EGG POEM

Article by Evelina Hedin

Across cultures, the egg has signified hidden potential and transformation. In many global mythologies, the cosmos is born from a cracking eggshell. The egg also holds significance in feminist thought – both a symbol of constraint and, at the same time, a site of autonomy, creation, and the divine. This enduring fascination with the egg finds new expression in contemporary art. In the following article, Evelina Hedin explores how three Swedish artists – Hedvig Bergman, Valeria Montti Colque, and Helena Sandström – engage with the egg, asking them about its role in their work.

Read the full article here.

SCULPTING ACCEPTANCE:

A NARRATIVE OF BODY IMAGE

Interview with Helena Renner

Helena Renner's work explores the body’s perception, challenging societal norms and ideals of physical appearance. By transforming shape wear and underwear into profound statements, she sparks conversations about identity and self-image. On first encountering her work, you feel an instant connection, intuitive and deeply personal. Now, preparing for her first solo exhibition in Mannheim, Germany, Helena aims to create an encompassing and immersive experience. We invite you to dive into the interview to learn more about her fascinating practice and to experience her work firsthand at her upcoming solo exhibition.

Read the full interview here.

UPCOMING

June & July 2025

• Upcoming Digital Publishing feature by Elena Karpilova & Naomi Collier Broms.

• New Dazzled features by Danielle Karlikoff.

• SO MINT! spotlight on graduation work by Esther Park.

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Happy Spring, Dear Social Club Members!

We’re back with another inspiring selection of exhibitions, essays, and exciting updates—plus a special Meet & Greet event just for our members, happening this time in sunny Amsterdam! 🌷

Whether you’re in the mood for fresh perspectives, thoughtful reads, or a chance to connect with fellow community members and creatives, we’ve got something for you this season.

ARTEFACTUM 3000

First solo exhibition by Boris de Beijer at Museum JAN Amstelveen.

Stepping into Artefactum 3000 feels like entering a distant future—yet, strangely, it all seems familiar. In his latest solo exhibition, Boris de Beijer bridges his jewellery roots with a deep curiosity for material exploration, this time immersing himself in the world of glass. Drawing from his obsession with ancient glass objects and his father’s meticulous metalwork, de Beijer’s latest body of work unfolds like a layered narrative, set against the backdrop of speculative design and the contemporary resurgence of craft.

Read the full interview here.

Meet & Greet

When: Thursday, 24 April 2025, 17:00 - 19:00

Where: Museum JAN, Dorpsstraat 50, 1182 JE Amstelveen

Join us for an inspiring evening at Museum JAN with a guided tour by Boris de Beijer himself! Don’t miss the final days of the exhibition – come explore the museum’s stunning glass collection, learn more about Boris’s unique process, and enjoy drinks and good company with the community. 

Limited places are available – click here to RSVP and save your spot!

ARE YOU MAD AT LANGUAGE?

Article by Cecilie Fang.

Are you mad at language? a friend asked me a few years ago. We had just met a few months earlier, and I was surprised by the directness of her question. No one had ever asked me that before. Am I mad at language? Maybe. I had never thought of it. Looking back upon years of education in visual art, I realised I had continuously returned to questions of literacy and linguistic hierarchies within my work; the hierarchies that do not only exist within grammar but the ones that extend beyond linguistics, when the languages we speak are moulded by historical and political forces.

Read the full article here.

DAZZLED ✦ VERMIN

Mechanised Violence and the Rituals of Control.

Isabelle Andriessen’s work investigates ways to physically animate inanimate synthetic materials, granting them their own metabolism, behaviour and agency. Like windows into science-fictional other worlds, her works are governed by material entities that appear passive or dormant, yet gradually reveal a darker agenda.

In Vermin, Andriessen explores the violent rites and dehumanisation that marked the lead-up to the Beeldenstorm of 1566, a period of religious turmoil and poverty in the Low Countries, now known as Belgium and the Netherlands. Developed specifically for Kunsthal Gent in Belgium, her mechanical sculptures evoke systems of control, submission and resistance, confronting viewers with the haunting presence of ritualised violence.

Read the full article here.

UPCOMING

April 2025

• New Digital Publishing feature by Evelina Hedin.

• New Dazzled features by Fleuri La Belle and Objects Of Desire

• GEMZ final phase.

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club Members!

It’s that time of year when the most anticipated jewellery event takes place! This year, Munich Jewellery Week® is celebrating the 10-year mark since Current Obsession started publishing the MJW Paper and map that chart the independent, artist-run initiatives self-organised in the city of Munich, bringing together creators, collectors and enthusiasts from around the world.

Come and celebrate this fantastic milestone with us at the MJW Party on Friday, 14 March 2025 from 21:00 at Lost Weekend Café in Munich.

Social Club Members enjoy free entry with the promo code 10PARTY25. The ticket includes a welcome shot and an invitation to participate in a Pin Swap event. Read more about the HQ programme here.

Reserve your place now and avoid queueing at the door! Simply click on this link, choose the ticketing option, and apply a 100% discount code at checkout.

We look forward to seeing you in Munich!

Dear Social Club Members,

2025 is here, and so are you—we love to see it!

The new digital publishing year is already in full swing, with twelve upcoming articles curated around the theme of LANGUAGE. Through these pieces, we explore visual languages, the communication of objects, and the significance of iconography and symbolism.

This year’s digital publishing features isabel wang pontoppidan as guest editor. isabel is a Danish-Chinese writer, artistic researcher, and jewellery maker based in Amsterdam. Her practice is multifaceted, blending writing, performance, research, and jewellery into a dynamic, interdisciplinary approach and we are very excited to have her on board!

Missed us? Here’s what’s been happening…

LIT-IGATION

One maker’s entanglements with the slings and arrows of viral success.

By most metrics, Corrina Goutos can be considered among the more successful contemporary jewellery artists of today. She is widely accredited, incredibly productive, and sells consistently, in no small part due to the pervasive online representation of her artistic practice, which she refers to as Anthrosmithing. A hybrid of found objects and personal tech devices combined with traditional piercing hardware, her work artfully covers a spectrum from large scale installation pieces to ultra-hip accessories worn by pop stars. Fresh, contemporary, and imminently accessible to a wide range of palettes, her pierced shell pieces are both delightfully wearable, and instantly recognisable.

Read the full interview by Margaret Munchheimer here.

SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SKIN

Article by Zoe Clark.

Jewellery represents human experience from its conception to use – our hands both create and adorn. We make objects and wear them as forms of self expression and our sense of self is shaped through our unique lived experience. My act is me. Your act is you. We are individual. It. Is. Personal.

Our memories, thoughts and ideas become embodied in this personal adornment object. We have something to say, yet communication transcends the spoken word and these words are instead made tangible. Jewellery conveys meaning without sound. But if it is a silent communicator and our sense of self varies, then between the exchange of hands, the maker’s intention and wearer’s perspective – creation and adornment – there is space for open interpretation. Numerous layers of meaning can exist within the object.

Continue reading here!

MARKINGS INTO A DIFFERENT WORLD

Article by Maru López.

Imagine you are in the bathroom of your favourite dive bar. Yeah, the one that is grimy, dark, and full of posters of upcoming shows. I bet the bathroom stalls have layers of stickers, drawings, and half conversations of people that, for a few minutes, were there. Why come ready with a marker to leave an imprint? A sticker in your pocket to leave behind?

Recently, while I waited in a long line, I looked at the wall of my neighbourhood bar with all the tags and stickers. To my mind came caves and the millenary markings that can be found in some of them. I thought of street lamps full of stickers. These intentional ways of leaving a trace behind that communicate with people you don’t know seemed like a sort of analog message board of a pre social media world.

Read more here!

UPCOMING

March 2025

• Interview with Boris de Beijer about his solo show Artefactum 3000 at Museum JAN.

• New Digital Publishing feature by Cecilie Fang.

• Munich Jewellery Week 2025!

• Current Obsession quarterly newsletter.

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club Members,

As we wrap up 2024, we are happy to connect with you one final time this year to share an overview of the latest articles and activities available to our members.

We sincerely thank you for your meaningful support throughout the year. With your help, we have been able to deliver new articles each month and successfully close our second Open Call for Writers. We are now collaborating with 12 talented international writers from the fields of art, design, and jewellery to present a new series of online articles on the theme of Visual Language.

Looking ahead to 2025, we are preparing extensive programming for Munich Jewellery Week, including the accompanying MJW Paper, new printed chapters of our magazine, and another edition of the Obsessed! Paper and Obsessed! Jewellery Festival in Amsterdam. Don’t forget—all upcoming printed publications for 2025 are included in the I’M OBSESSED subscription. If you’d like to receive these publications delivered to your doorstep at a discounted price, consider upgrading to the I’M OBSESSED plan before their release.

COLLABORATION WITH THE INVISIBLE

Interview with Michaela Pegum

Michaela Pegum’s work is rooted in material experimentation, where fabrics, stitching, and electro-forming merge to create evolving, hybrid sculptures. Her pieces inhabit the threshold between the known and the unknown, incorporating performative elements that engage the body and movement, fostering interaction between the artist, audience, and environment. Pegum’s practice is driven by a continuous exploration of invisible forces that shape our perception and understanding of the world.

Read the full interview with Michaela here.

SOFT IN THE WATER

The Pearl And Queerness

‘The first time I touched a real pearl, I was 18 years old, and I immediately put it in my mouth. This action wasn’t entirely spontaneous: a classmate of mine in a community college jewellery studio gave me a handful of half-drilled freshwater pearls as a gift and informed me that I could verify their authenticity by rubbing them against my teeth and feeling for grit. However, in the fictionalised theatre of my memory, I imagine that I put the pearl in my mouth not to determine its authenticity, but because it was born within flesh, and it felt fitting for it to return to flesh.’

Writes J. Taran Diamond, metalsmith and craft educator based in Baltimore, Maryland, in their two-part essay, closely examining the work of Lilly Luft and Margo Csipő.

Via these links, you can access the first and the second part.

SOME DISTANCES CANNOT BE MEASURED

Essay by Anita Van Doorn

Ordinary objects and materials often hold profound beauty and untold stories, carrying memories and connections across time and space. Through historical artefacts created in hardship and contemporary jewellery inspired by resilience, Anita Van Doorn uncovers how the mundane transforms into powerful symbols of human experience, endurance and creativity.

Read the full article via this link.

UPCOMING

December 2024

• Interview by Margaret Munchheimer with Corrina Goutos

• New DAZZLED editorials featuring work of Ondrej Stara and Maayan Sophia Weisstub

• BODY AS MEASURE: A throwback article reflecting on the jewellery and body symposium at Stockholm Craft Week 2024

• Current Obsession quarterly newsletter

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club members,

After a short summer break, we’re back with another Members Newsletter! This edition not only spotlights our new monthly editorial features, but also offers a special insight into the Australian jewellery scene through a series of three interviews produced in collaboration with Radiant Pavilion. We’re excited to share conversations with artists Aphra Cheesman and an upcoming feature on Michaela Pegum and Lisa Waup.

Additionally, we have two exciting opportunities: an Open Call for Writers for 2025, focusing on language, and the annual Open Call for the GEMZ Talent Accelerator Programme.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

IT’S NOT RUBBISH, IT’S JEWELLERY

Interview with Aphra Cheesman.

A light switch, the head of a screw, a hole in the sofa, a keyboard: worn, unnoticed details of daily life. Is there beauty in something so mundane and ordinary? Aphra Cheesman, a contemporary jewellery artist from Naarm/Melbourne, explores such unexpected beauty by collecting objects and details from the daily habitat. ‘When an object becomes jewellery, it transforms from waste to ornament, elevating its value from something that would otherwise end up in the bin.’ Aphra’s work celebrates the quotidian, repair, and reuse, highlighting connections between people, environments, and objects.

Read the full interview here.

ARGENTINIAN TALES

Two part essay by Florencia Kobelt.

The field of contemporary Argentinian jewellery is a testament to the passion and dedication of its designers. Despite the challenges of limited resources, whether due to economic reasons or our geographical location in the southern hemisphere, Argentinian design is characterised by a profound reflection on materials and a constant drive for innovation. Writes art critic Florencia Kobelt in her two part essay examining the work of three jewellers María Eugenia Ramos, Lena Echelle and Gabriela Nirino.

Read the full essay here.

Read the second part of the essay here.

THE PERSON BEHIND THE PEARLS

Article by Charlotte Russell.

Across the stage, an army of ants begins to walk towards us. One by one, they trail across the top of a gym bench and scatter from the gaps and crevices of a school locker. The closer you look, the more you notice their lustre—each minute creature is cast from the same mould, delicately born from molten silver. Tripping and falling into a world where bugs and fairytale creatures are born from metal, enter the universe of jeweller and sculptor Ruby Taglight (she/her) and Elena Hoskyns-Abrahall (they/he). Whilst creating work that differs in subject matter and style, both makers share a similar sentimentality. By crafting squashy, dripping forms that celebrate imperfections and the shifting, ever-evolving movement of metal, both Taglight and Hoskyns-Abrahall are redefining our understanding of ‘precious’.

Read the full article here.

OPEN CALL FOR WRITERS

For the second time, Current Obsession is opening its digital publishing platform to writers worldwide, welcoming a diverse range of formats including essays, interviews, mini-series, and reviews on the topic of Language. Our focus is on intersectional writing that navigates the fields of art, design, jewellery, and craft. We’re eager to amplify voices that echo beauty, intricacy, and depth. Whether you’re a seasoned scribe or a budding writer, if you have a tale that intertwines with jewellery’s shimmer, we want to hear it!

Read more about the open call and submission process via this link.

GEM Z: Open Call

Talent Accelerator Programme by Current Obsession.

The third cycle of Current Obsession’s Talent Accelerator Programme is now open! While previous cycles focused on fostering relationships between young creatives, cultural institutions, and the industry, the GEMZ programme now emphasises building resilient, scalable, and sustainable individual practices or brands. If you are interested in reading more about the updated structure of the programme and application process, follow this link for more!

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club members!

Welcome to the summer edition of our Members Newsletter! We're excited to bring you fresh and engaging editorial features that dive into crucial topics such as sustainability/toxicity, and the fascinating world of Chinoiserie. Dive in and enjoy the best reads and listens we've curated just for you this month!

TOXIC TRANSITS

Interview with Conversation Piece.

In the Hagströmer Medico-Historical Library on the outskirts of Stockholm, eight artists curated by Beatrice Brovia and Nicolas Cheng exhibited their work this spring in a transdisciplinary dialogue with a selection of historical books ranging from botany, metallurgy, and geology to toxicology.

Trans-, inter-, or multidisciplinary practices and methodologies are currently widely discussed concepts at the forefront of art, craft, and design. But how does true transdisciplinary research materialise in an exhibition? Some answers can be found in the recent show Toxic Transits curated by Conversation Piece, an artist duo Brovia-Cheng, who extended the questions informing their common artistic practice into an exhibition concept, merging a historical site, the Hagströmer Medico-Historical Library, with contemporary jewellery.

Read the full interview here.

I, TOO, SEE POTENTIAL IN MY OWN THINGIFICATION

Essay by Isabel Wang Pontoppidan

I first chanced upon the term ‘chinoiserie’ four years ago. That little word, so whimsical, wormed its way into my brain. It meant more or less what I had intuited.

As a person of mixed Chinese and Danish ethnicity, I have come to find kinship in chinoiserie objects. When I scroll through the wealth of search engine images depicting intricately ornamented lacquered cabinets, decorative wallpaper, and gaily coloured porcelain, I feel a familial resonance: ‘I am that folding screen with gilded ornaments,’ I think to myself, ‘I am that wooden bed frame decorated with dragons and peonies.’ Simultaneously distinctly Asian and distinctly European and neither, chinoiserie is a hybrid style. Defined by an elaborate, decorative appeal to the exotic and spectacular, the chinoiserie objects are shiny surfaces in which I can glimpse my own reflection.

Read the full essay here.

MINING FOR SOLUTIONS

A podcast about sustainability.

During OBSESSED!, a biannual jewellery festival, galleries across the Netherlands open their doors to the jewellery crowd, hosting exhibitions, lectures and discussions. Last November, an important panel discussion titled 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 took place at the Fashion For Good museum in central Amsterdam, unpacking questions of sustainability.

Organised by Current Obsession, the event brought together different practitioners from textile, fashion and jewellery, to discuss what makes a sustainable practices effective. Panel speakers included jewellery artist and educator at Central St. Martins, Katharina Dettar; Co-founder of Fibershed NL and longtime fashion professional, Stijntje Jaspers; Jaime Valderrama, Bogota-based brand representative for the Fairmined initiative and the Alliance for Responsible Mining; and award-winning artist and recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Mariel Matute.

In the latest episode of Undisciplined, we have invited Margaret Munchheimer, a multifaceted jewellery maker, podcaster and writer, to host this conversation and share her research, interviews, and speak on some of the most important questions related to mining of precious metals and stones, fast fashion and where to start in your own practice to become more responsible and sustainable maker.

Listen to the full episode here.

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club members!

Can you feel the summer breeze caressing your skin? The sunny days spent reading for hours on a beach or a carpet of fluffy green grass, surrounded by colourful flowers, are so palpable now! It wouldn’t be the same without some fresh monthly reads, so here we are with another newsletter bringing you the last two features on the topic of Urban Mythology from our monthly series. Dive deep into the Polish contemporary jewellery scene and explore fictional stories inspired by Estonian-Finnish archives. The latest contributions by Josh Plough and Mia Tamme are not to be missed!

Polishing the Swamp: Shadows and Decay in Polish Jewellery

Essay by Josh Plough

Not all jewellery is created equal. In Warsaw, you’ll see adverts for it when you’re on the tram or the metro, with actual names like ‘Classic Nostalgia’ or ‘Victorian Collections’ pasted on billboards. Gold shimmers next to winking gems that adorn an elegant female hand, languidly laid across a dinner table, or held against an almost bare chest, framed by an elegant black silk dress. We’re supposed to want to be in that world of crystal, with its smooth inviting surfaces and precise moral angles. But if you linger on the image for a while, which I tend to do when riding the tram, you realise there is nowhere to hide in that world. No deep shadows, no pits, no gullies. It’s flawless, perfect, and caught under a constant spotlight. Nothing lives in these scenes except envy.

Josh Plough writes in his introduction to the immersive Polish jewellery scene. Continue reading about the young Polish designers via this link.

An Armour of Bright Tears

Three jewellery inspired fictional stories by Mia Tamme

Mia Tamme is an artist, filmmaker, and storyteller from Tallinn, Estonia. The following three jewellery inspired tales are part of Mia’s ongoing text-performance-visual research project, ‘An Armour of Bright Tears.’ Through images from the National Archive of Estonia, Mia creates threads for telling fabulated stories. Patching together her research visits to craftswomen, local oral histories, and ethnographic research, she imagines the realities that might have been overlooked by patriarchal nationalist archive practices.

‘I am after the undocumented jewels. The ones that must have become tangled—I am sure of it—on somebody’s neck. I long to see the pearls that fell beyond the reach of foreign folklorists and nationalist archivists. Thus, I search in images that linger between private memories and masculine archives for beads that were too dull for shiny photographs.’

Read the full feature here.

SO MINT! by Lorena Rode

Our yearly graduate series is back!

Lorena Rode is an interdisciplinary artist whose work ranges from sculptures, wearables, performances to poetry. She grew up moving between Europe, South America, and Africa. Having witnessed many different ecosystems, cultures, values, and relationships, she became deeply drawn to what these diverse forms of coexistence entail. Within her practice, she seeks to redefine our ways of living together, particularly aiming to foster more symbiotic relationships between people, nature, and our environment.

Read more about Lorena’s graduation project via this link!

Are you a recent graduate with remarkable work to share? Submit your graduation portfolio to veronika@current-obsession.com with the subject line ‘SO MINT!’

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club members!

Munich Jewellery Week was an overwhelming creative overdose, as is usually the case, and we are beginning to fall back into our routines. Don't worry, we have some extra content for those of you who didn’t make it to Munich this year.

On “Wearing Space: Body and Site”

Interview with Yuka Oyama & Anders Ljungberg

‘‘As educators responsible for teaching jewellery art at the master’s level, Anders and I have the true privilege of gaining insights into the wide range of topics that students explore. Issues that matter and fascinate them stem from the multifarious backgrounds they come from, current social events they deem important, and ungraspable thoughts that catch their attention. These original aspirations are then carefully investigated with jewellers’ perspectives, technical expertise, and material knowledge. Over time, we can draw a map of what kind of questions tend to be explored through jewellery, but we realised that there is a need for a space to discuss how jewellers explore, search, test, and engage with the subject matter that reflects our time. This is the reason we are implementing this social club.’’ Writes Yuka Oyama in the interview.

Read the full interview on the website.

What sorcery is this? 2/2

Two-part essay by Tiiu Meiner

Life is inherently chaotic, a perpetual whirlwind that humanity has long sought to comprehend. Over time, we’ve crafted various tools to navigate this turbulent reality, seeking fleeting moments of clarity amidst the chaos. However, in today’s world, traditional sources of meaning and identity face unprecedented challenges.

Artists like Maxime Buono, SORCERER, and Joanne Burke tap into this themes by creating narratives that deeply resonate with modern society, while also imagining beyond them. Through their work, these creators seamlessly blend current stories into semi-fictional tales, merging reality with imagination to envision new possibilities rooted in our own reality.

Writes Tiiu Meiner, an Estonian curator and writer based in Rotterdam. In her work she particularly focusses on language as a material and the design of narratives about nature and social hierarchies.

This article is part of a larger exploratory series called Urban Mythology commissioned by Current Obsession. The theme blends personal mythology and modernised traditions to present a new take on identity, oral history, and symbolic language.

Read the second part of this contemplative essay here.

Pulse

Interview with Bella Neyman

Bella Neyman, writer, curator, and co-founder of NYC Jewelry Week, shares her MJW picks and elaborates on her philosophies of collecting and her burning questions for the field.

‘‘For me, Munich is really important because while I treat it as an opportunity to see what is coming up in the field, I also look at it as an opportunity to familiarise myself with the canon, like the history of contemporary jewellery.’’ Says Bella Neyman in the interview.

For the full interview follow this link!

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

We hope this email finds you well. We are forever grateful for your continuous support! It is also thanks to you that we can commission young writers, organise live events and social clubs, and print publications on a regular basis.

Last year, we transitioned into a new subscription-based model of publishing. This means that instead of one publication bi-annually, we will issue several smaller publications exploring different topics in depth throughout the year. With this major change, we also updated the subscription plans.

From the previous three plans, we decided to simplify and continue with only two. The I LOVE plan allows subscribers to access our premium content online, receive regular members' newsletters, and provide access to all of our live events worldwide. The I’M OBSESSED plan will include the perks of the I LOVE plan, and after a sufficient subscription period, members will start receiving printed publications as we publish them. This includes, for example, new chapters of the magazine, Munich Jewellery Week Paper, and Obsessed! Jewellery Festival Paper. You can customise the plan yourself and choose your preferred payment method, either monthly or with a one-time payment annually with a 10% discount.

As a thank you for your support, we are dispatching the latest issue of Munich Jewellery Week Paper to your doorstep in the coming days. If you wish to receive all printed matter also in the future, we encourage you to upgrade your subscription to the I’M OBSESSED plan now.

You can do so via the Steady platform. Here, you can also manage details of your subscription plan and download your invoices.

If you have any further questions, please contact us at veronika@current-obsession.com.

Kind regards,

CO Team

Dear Social Club members!

We hope that the beginning of the new year has been more than successful for you and that your energy is still running high! There is a lot happening during the month of February, and we are here with another Social Club newsletter to help guide you right through it!

Neo-Folklorism

Interview with with Niño Divino by Margaret Munchheimer

Darwin Winklaar, a.k.a. Niño Divino, represents a 21st-century artistic kalokagathia, embodying the archetype of a contemporary artist who is not only multi-disciplinary in mediums like fashion, music, and performance, but also deeply engaged in reinventing and reclaiming cultural heritage to inspire and build communities. What sparks one's attention when looking at Divino's work is the strong and resonant voice actively reclaiming their identity, courageously confronting the dilemma of what to leave behind and what to retain in the modern world where the indigenous, the mythical, and the spiritual have been stripped away from everyday life.

Read the full interview on the website.

Munich Jewellery Week 2024

The most anticipated annual celebration of jewellery is just around the corner! What’s in store for us?

Jewellery Everything: Window Exhibition, Talks, Presentations, Happenings and Party — all under one roof, right in the heart of Munich, on Schellingstraße 3!

Returning to our beloved Lost Weekend, the café will transform into the MJW headquarters, a pivotal meeting spot for all visitors for the week. Here, you will be able to leaf through and purchase all new printed publications, including the MJW Paper, pick up your promotional materials, and of course, take part in our public programme that made a huge impact last year!

You can look forward, among other things, to the launch of the new edition of The Vessel magazine, delving into tattoos; an open seminar titled 'Wearing Spaces' organised by Konstfack Stockholm and HDK Gothenburg; and a JaM Jewellery Cabaret with beat poetry by students and professors at RCA. Moving exhibition madWANTED by PXL-MAD students, '24’ Sound Off Social Club' where Cranbrook Academy of Art meets MASieraad, in discussion with the audience about the most pressing jewellery-related questions; and of course, a Speed Dating event!

In collaboration with Lost Weekend, we organised a pop-up exhibition in the large-scale windows facing the busy Schellingstraße, featuring the work of Kanako Ebisawa, Jiye Eun, and Tzu Yun Hung.

For more information about the full public programme and all Social Clubs for our members visit the MJW website.

What sorcery is this? 1/2

Two-part essay by Tiiu Meiner

Amidst the growing uncertainty of our times and a world that often feels disenchanting, there exists a captivating refuge—the timeless realms of mythology. It is here that designers find solace and inspiration, drawing from ancient tales of myth and magic to navigate the complexities of contemporary culture. Throughout history, mythology has wielded a profound influence in shaping and challenging established orders. Similarly, three visionary designers—Maxime Buono, SORCERER, and Joanne Burke—chart their own paths guided by these enduring narratives.

Writes Tiiu Meiner, an Estonian curator and writer based in Rotterdam. In her work she particularly focusses on language as a material and the design of narratives about nature and social hierarchies.

This article is part of a larger exploratory series called Urban Mythology commissioned by Current Obsession. The theme blends personal mythology and modernised traditions to present a new take on identity, oral history, and symbolic language.

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club members!

We hope you enjoyed a peaceful holiday and had a great start to the new year. With the new year, we are excited to bring you once again a series of Social Club newsletters, zooming in on content and information you shouldn't miss!

In the Loop

Interview with Norwegian textile and music artist Pearla Pigao

‘Since she was a child, Pearla Pigao has been composing music, but it was a digital accident during her first year as an art student in textile that led her into a creative path that surpasses one dimension. Through a reflective conversation with Pearla on her transdisciplinary practice—where multitude layers of textiles, sounds, and bodies intertwine into a loop of coherency—it becomes evident that her installations are abstract yet tactile; challenging yet playful; technically complex yet created for all. In Pearla’s small studio in Grünerløkka, belonging to the eastern part of Oslo, digitally woven textile samples are collected in piles, while completed works of art are either framed, hung on the wall, or wrapped up. During our conversation, a contemplative persona is vivified through Pearla’s eagerness to reflect upon her own investigative processes towards creation,’ writes Justine Nguyen in the new article for Current Obsession.

Read the full interview here.

Stockholm Craft Week Live Special: Managing Tensions and Talking Textile

Undisciplined. Crafting Conversations Podcast

The final episode of Undisciplined. Crafting Conversations for 2023 is online now, and there is a lot to unpack! Recorded live during the annual Stockholm Craft Week, held last October in Stockholm, artists and curators Marcos Kueh, Pearla Pigao, Sara Elggren, and Marcia Harvey Isaksson sit down to discuss this year's theme: textiles as a placeholder.

Listen to the fourth episode on Spotify or directly on the Undisciplined website.

#8 The Placeholder Issue

Release of all four chapters of the latest edition of Current Obsession Magazine

With this issue, Current Obsession delves into new ways of publishing as well as the concept of a placeholder — a container that encapsulates a void, things unknown and yet to be defined — to tackle some of the most complex attributes of jewellery.

Place-holding significance, jewellery and adornment are examined as metaphoric containers for hidden or ‘encoded’ information, the specific meanings of which have been lost — due to colonialism, displacement of people, suppression of knowledge and spiritual practices. The magazine looks at different ways in which this knowledge could be unlocked, rediscovered and empowered.

A total of four chapters constitute the Placeholder Issue:
Chapter 1. Body as an Intermediary Object
Chapter 2. Critical Multiplicity
Chapter 3. ‘Do you mind if I braid while we talk?’
Chapter 4. Becoming-With

You can read in detail about the Placeholder Issue here.

Subscribing members with sufficient subscription time and plan can look forward to the end of January 2024 when we dispatch the complete magazine to your doorstep!

Are you an online subscriber without eligibility for the printed matter but interested in peeking into a specific chapter? You can purchase your preferred selection of chapters via our webshop or upgrade your subscription to OBSESSED!

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com!

Dear Social Club members!

Today, we proudly present the fourth edition of OBSESSED! Jewellery Festival 2023. And you are invited! 

In addition to a rich programming by our participants and partners – see our full programme on www.obsessedwithjewellery.com – Current Obsession will produce three events throughout the month of November. 

We hope to welcome you at all of the events below. Save the Date(s)!

Mining for Solutions

A Panel Talk on Sustainable Practices in Fashion and Jewellery

11.11.2023, 14:00 – 17:00
Fashion for Good Museum, Rokin 102, Amsterdam

For the occasion of Obsessed Jewellery Festival ‘23, Current Obsession and Amsterdam Fashion for Good Museum team up to present a panel talk discussing the ubiquitous issue of ecologically sustainable production practices in both the Fashion and Jewellery industries. As two major contributors to culture and creativity, both fashion and jewellery are also among the most personal and intimate objects we possess and interact with, and offer some of the most fruitful terrain for bringing a conversation on sustainability directly to the consumer.

However, the obscurity and mystery surrounding where our material resources come from, presents one of the greatest obstacles to achieving this. And information for the public, on what, how and why to buy responsibly, is yet another. Please join us for this very special panel event, in which we address these very issues, and hear from leading thinkers from both worlds, about how we can tackle our common concerns, from within our respective communities.

Panelists:
Katharina Dettar
Stijntje Jaspers (Fibershed NL)
Mariel Matute
Jaime Valderrama (Alliance for Responsible Mining)

Moderator: Margaret Munchheimer

Please register here 

This event is supported by Pictoright Fonds.

Slouching Towards Sustainability

Article by Margaret Munchheimer

‘‘The first time I truly encountered the question of sustainability in jewellery, it was explicitly asked by a piece by Katharina Dettar, placed in the window of Galerie Marzee, in 2016. It was, at first glance, a massive pile of rocks. But it was powerful, with a centre of gravity all its own, which stood alone in that window, quietly revealing itself to be one of the strongest things in the room. On closer inspection, perched atop the careful arrangement of stones, was a simple band of 24k gold. Leaning in to read the title card, I felt the final element fall into place, with the instant recognition of an inconvenient yet undeniable truth. ‘1.540= 0,0021kg’. In other words, 1540 kg of stone to make one 2g gold ring. (Just for reference, that’s one and a half tonnes..) I was nothing short of dazzled.’’

Read the full article here.

GEMZ

Unpacked

18.11.2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Nieuwe Instituut, Museumpark 25, Rotterdam

Emerging from the far corners of the world, eleven bodies of work arrive at a metaphorical processing facility. Here, the backgrounds, geographies, resources and conditions of the objects at hand are unpacked and inventorised. 

The inventory, traditionally associated with overseeing storage, takes on a new role as a space for contemplation. Its purpose lies in guiding visitors through an incomplete and intricate exploration of one-of-a kind artworks, unfolding their layers — the technical, the conceptual, and the material.  

GEMZ: Unpacked showcases the results of the eponymous talent development programme by Current Obsession. 

Participating Artists:
Andreea Cojocaru, Dominik Cunningham, Elise Hoebeke, Fleuri La Belle Ngapy, Karoline Healy, Maureen Kortenbusch, Pauline Hepner, Sulo Bee, Xinyi Wang, Yu Fujiwara and Zofia Skoroszewska.

Initiated and curated by: Current Obsession.
Text in collaboration with: Irma Földényi

Please register here. 

GEMZ is supported by Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Gemeente Rotterdam, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Stichting Stokroos, DIVA and Nieuwe Instituut

DEAD DARLINGS

All Strings, No Regrets!

30.11.2023, 18:00 – 22:30
Fashion for Good Museum, Rokin 102, Amsterdam

Dead Darlings will stage their second anonymous auction for OBSESSED! Jewellery Festival on 30 November 2023. The auction-performance will serve as a fabulous closing event for the festival, celebrating the theme All Strings Attached!

Dead Darlings is an anonymous art auction initiative established in Amsterdam. Their platform delves into the intricate dynamics of the love triangle involving artists, artworks, and collectors. By blending elements of performance and exhibition, they spotlight artefacts whose value remains enigmatic—these are our dead darlings. This term encapsulates works that, for various reasons, fell through the cracks and have never seen the light of day.

Dead Darlings kickstart their auctions with reasonable starting prices and by maintaining anonymity between the lot and its creator until after the sale, they re-assess notions of commerce and value, while celebrating each and every artwork that comes under their hammer.

Dead Darlings #17 — All Strings, No Regrets! gives the makers a chance to bring forth and highlight an artwork they want to apologise to, not for! In other words Dead Darlings invite artists to share a piece they may have undervalued, either because they failed to recognise its inherent beauty, or struggled to comprehend its purpose, or even doubted its potential to be cherished by others.

Through this auction Dead Darlings give artists the opportunity to apologise to these neglected artworks before setting them free to find the true love they have always deserved!

Please register here. 

This event is supported by Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst.

Catch Tania Theodorou's article 'WHY THE DUST NEVER SETTLES ON DEAD DARLINGS' on the Current Obsession website this coming Friday!

Dear jewellery friends and Social Club members!

As the scent of salty water fills the air and the soothing sound of waves beckons, we too are preparing to embark on our summer vacation. However, before we do, we have some exciting online content for you to explore, whether you're lounging on a sandy beach or soaring through the skies on a plane.

SO MINT!

Get ready for the most refreshing time of the year—it's SO MINT! Our annual series is back, shining a spotlight on the incredible talents of fresh graduates in fashion, jewellery, and design from around the world. Current Obsession has handpicked exceptional emerging artists and designers for this inspiring showcase. Discover our new updated format, where you can get familiar with the artists and their graduation projects, and delve deeper into their creative practices through insightful short interviews. Stay tuned to our Instagram and website for regular updates and new additions to the series.

Metacarpus by Stefan Boerkamp, Design Academy Eindhoven, Man & Identity department.

Are you a recent graduate with remarkable work to share? We want to hear from you! Submit your project to magazine@current-obsession.com with the subject line "SO MINT!" or simply apply through our submission form.

‘Crumpled Papers’

with Giulia Lanza and Rachel Bacon

The latest episode of the Undisciplined. Crafting Conversations podcast is now available, hosted by Italian artist and jeweller Giulia Lanza. In this episode, Giulia welcomes Rachel Bacon, an American artist currently residing in Brussels, who shares her love for drawing. Join them as they delve into the intricacies of the drawing process, emphasising the importance of dedicating enough time to their craft and exploring the vibrant artist-run scenes across Europe.

Brooch by Giulia Lanza, Image by Marco Mangani.

Tune in to this thought-provoking discussion on www.undisciplinedpodcast.com or listen via Spotify.

Brandon Wen

GEMZ Interview Series

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Brandon Wen crossed the pond to pursue his studies in fashion at the world-renowned Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. The Belgian soil proved to be fertile ground for Wen, allowing him to develop a practice that merges fashion and performance art. Just three years after graduating, Wen returned to the Antwerp Academy in late 2022, but this time not as a student. He was appointed as the new Creative Director of the fashion department, succeeding the iconic Walter van Beirendonck.

As Wen settles into his new position, inspired by a new generation of students who celebrate authenticity, creativity, and fun, we spoke with him. The interview is composed and conducted by the participants of GEMZ, CO’s very own talent development programme.

Read the full interview by clicking the link here.

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com

Until next time, with gratitude, 

CO Team

Happy spring, dear Social Club members!

We're delighted to get in touch with you with another Social Club newsletter. Before we begin, let us express our appreciation for the time we spent in Munich and at the MJW HUB where we hosted Social Clubs for you throughout the whole week. It was wonderful to reconnect with familiar faces and meet so many new ones. In addition to upcoming events and articles, let's take a moment to reminisce about one of our memorable moments in Munich.

The Outermost Layer

On Friday 10th March, MJW HUB & Current Obsession hosted a Social Club organized by Norwegian Crafts to celebrate the launch of their 5th online issue of The Vessel magazine. The Outermost Layer was edited by artist Camilla Luihn and Agneizska Knap and explores various aspects of jewellery and metal art through nine interviews with Olaf Hodne, Anne Klontz, Johanna Zanon, Linn Sigrid Bratland, Julia Wild, Katharina Dettar, Jokum Lind Jensen, and Vivi Touloumidi. The issue showcases the works of artists including Kirstine Ervik, Ingvild Reinton, Renate Dahl, Lauren Kalman, Sayo Ota, and Judit Fritz.

To access the complete issue, please visit https://vessel-magazine.no/issues/5/the-outermost-layer.

Social Club: Craft Crit Sessions

In the spirit of Current Obsession’s Social Club, Objectspace invites practitioners to come together for a night of warm and lively feedback and discussion on current craft practice. 

On the occasion of Cook & Company, jeweller Octavia Cook, Objectspace Director Kim Paton and surprise guest critics will offer critique to a handful of makers, who have been nominated by the craft community.

Join us for the evening to get thinking about how creative practice is developed, and to meet other makers. Bring along a project/piece you're working on to share with each other before the formal crit sessions begin!

To find out more, click on https://www.objectspace.org.nz/events/craft-crit-sessions/.

Motoko Furuhashi's Travel-Inspired Jewellery

Pinned on a white exhibition wall in a straight horizontal line are several brooches created by Motoko Furuhashi, a Japanese jewellery artist. At first glance, they appear quite similar - a simple circular bezel holding a translucent material with identical two spiky needles on the back side. However, the monotony is disrupted by unexpected bursts of colour. Upon closer look, a variety of stories begin to unravel. Confetti, grains, dirt, stones, and cigarette butts crushed between layers of transparent tape. Motoko's intricate display of her travels to places such as El Paso, Los Angeles, and Kyoto is a subtle yet captivating visual diary captured within her unique jewellery creations, taking us on a journey around the world.

Coming soon, exclusively for Social Club members, at https://www.current-obsession.com/publishing/!

Dearest Social Club members!

With the first rays of sun and longer days ahead, Munich Jewellery Week is just around the corner. As promised, we're back with a fresh newsletter filled with everything you need to know about MJW. Have you bought your tickets to Munich yet? If not, hurry up because you don't want to miss out on such an eventful week. And if you have, we're excited to meet you at the MJW HUB - the hottest spot in Munich!

Munich Jewellery Week Hub 

Jewellery Everything: Exhibitions, Talks, Presentations, Happenings

For a week, the spacious and bright former Galeria Kaufhof will become the gathering place for the jewellery community. The MJW HUB will serve as headquarters, a social hub where you can catch up with friends or hold spontaneous meetings; see exhibitions, watch performances and join discussions. And the best part? The hub is located in the heart of Munich, always within your reach! Plus, enjoy a fresh cup of coffee or a drink while you're there.

At the MJW HUB, you'll have the opportunity to view several group and individual exhibitions, showcasing the latest works from both emerging and established artists in contemporary jewellery. Exhibitors include students from Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Maastricht Institute of Arts, as well as master students from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. In addition, there will be solo exhibitions by Lena Munzig, Motoko Furuhashi, Alex Page, LUNANTE, Ellina Pollitt, and Jessica Winchcombe. 

Don't miss the soft opening of all exhibitions and the MJW HUB on Tuesday, March 7th, starting at 7:00 PM.

MJW HUB: Social Clubs for members

GUIDED TOUR (RSVP)

As always, we have some exciting social clubs prepared for you this year. The week kicks off with a guided tour of the MJW HUB on Wednesday, March 8th, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. All I LIKE, I LOVE, and I'M OBSESSED members are cordially invited to come and meet the exhibiting artists, who will provide insights into the art and techniques used in their various works on display.

JEWELLERY SPEED DATING (RSVP)

On Thursday, March 9th, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Current Obsession invites you to join a business speed dating event over morning coffee. It's a speedy and effective way to gain professional contacts or nourish the ones you already have. During the brisk 10-minute-long sessions with all our participating guests of honour, you will have the chance to introduce yourself, hand out invitations to your show, pitch your good ideas, or exchange impressions from the bejewelled Munich!

POP UP

Finally, on Friday, March 10th, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, join us for a morning meet and greet with PXL-MAD's master students: Julia Boix-Vives, Nelle Brackeva, Willemien Bruwer, Lara Dheedene, Lars Joosten, Lize Myttenaere, Felien Tytgat, and Senneke Van de Wygaert. They will start the day with a pop-up appearance at the HUB before hitting the streets of Munich with their mobile exhibition!

Please RSVP for the above-mentioned events by sending an email to veronika@current-obsession.com with the subject header "GUIDED TOUR"
or "JEWELLERY SPEED DATING." 

Motoko Furuhashi, Santa Monica, USA

MJW Paper

The current edition of the MJW Paper is fresh off the press and on its way to all I LOVE members (subscribed for more than 6 months) and I'M OBSESSED members (subscribed for more than 3 months). What can you expect? A long feature about the exhibition "5 Gentlemen Doing Things" by David Clarke, David Bielander, Rudolf Bott, Karl Fritsch & Paul Kooiker, on display at Galerie Zink. 

The centre spread this year belongs to one of contemporary jewellery’s most elusive and unique masters — Therese Hilbert, honoured this year at the Pinakothek der Moderne. There's also a new column called "Pulse," where we asked six jewellery practitioners visiting Munich for their personal top 3 must-sees and why, plus a whole lot of fabulous posters and imagery!

As an I LIKE member, you can order the current issue of the MJW Paper via our shop or purchase it in person at several locations in Munich. Believe us when we say that this edition of the MJW Paper is an astonishing guide full of insightful content by participants and exhibitors from all around the world that will help you navigate the streets of Munich with ease.

As always, we would love to hear from you in case you have any membership related questions at veronika@current-obsession.com

Hey there, jewellery lovers!

We want to take a moment to say a big thank you for all the support you've shown us in 2022. You rock and we're beyond grateful for your contributions that help us keep this platform growing in 2023!

To show our appreciation, we've got some super exciting exclusives just for you. Think – a steady stream of members-only content, fresh issue of our magazine, inspiring social clubs and IRL events happening all over the place.

Updated Identity

We've been listening to your feedback and have some exciting updates to share. We've added a new section on the Current Obsession website called 'Membership' where you can access all the premium content you crave in one easy-to-find spot. Plus, you'll find all the details on your current membership plan there too. To make your browsing experience even more seamless, we've added a unique visual feature on the cover images of all exclusive articles. 

Keep an eye out for the waves!

Munich Jewellery Week 2023

Munich Jewellery Week is just around the corner and we're working hard to make this year a memorable experience for all. Our Social Club members can look forward to a series of special events at the MJW HUB, a new location in the heart of Munich's Karlsplatz. Artist talks, exhibitions, networking sessions, and guided tours are just the tip of the iceberg of what you'll be able to enjoy at the HUB. Be sure to keep an eye out for our March newsletter for updates on the full program. 

I LOVE members who have subscribed for a minimum of 6 months and I'M OBSESSED members who have subscribed for a minimum of 3 months can look forward to receiving the latest printed issue of the Munich Jewellery Week Paper 2023 at their doorstep after its launch.

We can't wait to see you in Munich!