© i-r-paulus

The recent trends in silver jewellery indicate that customers today are become more discerning and considerably less frivolous when it comes to their silver jewellery purchases. Whether one is buying a huge Harry Winston diamond ring or sterling silver jewellery from Tiffany, today's customer wants genuine value for money. Customers want to know about the provenance of the piece, where it was made, how much time was spent. Customers want details in order to justify their investment. When it comes to silver jewellery; customers have slowly started to move away from the cheaper mass produced silver jewellery designs where all the price is in the weight of the silver and there is little or no perceived value, and moving towards the slightly more expensive handmade pieces where the cost of the silver is complimented by hours of work by skilled artists, and where their investment gives them something unusual, something different and something that they can be proud of. Following this trend, companies are now coming up with lighter weight pieces of silver jewellery using filigree, fretwork, twists and lacy designs that reduce the overall weight of metal. They are also focussing on modern techniques to create interesting texture and sparkle without the weight.

© franksteiner

At my son's school, a classmate of his told him about a family reunion he attended with his parents and siblings. All the branches of the family at the reunion brought either vintage watches, if they had them-and apparently, most did!-and recently acquired watches, as well as ones to give as gifts, to add a new dimension to the family's heritage. I thought this was wonderful and wanted to hear all about it, so I called the child's mother and invited her to tea together with other mothers who were interested. We were all fascinated and also deeply touched by what she recounted. The vintage watches sounded like they must be just magnificent. Some of them sounded more like jewelry, really. We asked where she and her husband had gotten the more recently acquired watches and she said at goldsea.com/en. When she saw how interested we were, she brought out some photos from her purse. She said she hadn't wanted to bring them out unless it seemed like we'd want to see them. We appreciated her shyness and encouraged her to please show us every one of the photos! They didn't disappoint, they were amazing. The antique watches were splendid. I thought the whole event was really inspiring, both for family togetherness, appreciation of the generations, and the watches of course, some of which had been handed down, in fact, over generations.

© e³°°°

Hungarian maker of designer jewelry Gyongyver Gaal puts a little twist into all of her designs, whether it's a grass ring, a snail ring, or a slide-framed and heart-shaped necklace. Just recently the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts purchased some items form Gyongyver to display in their permanent contemporary collection.

The silver and precious stone materials take on simple, rectangular shapes in Gyongyver's skilled designs. She often over-exaggerates a single feature of her materials. She says that her favorite jewelry piece is the ring, which she likes to design so that they stand upright off the finger. She said that she also rarely designs sets of jewelry together, but prefers to make statement pieces that can stand alone. She claims no favorite designer, but rather finds all kinds of jewelry intriguing when it is pushing some sort of boundary, whether that is in the use of materials, size, or some other concept.