As always, GemGenève combines business with pleasure or, more precisely, business with moments of training. The eighth edition scheduled from 9 to 12 May at the Palaexpo in Geneva is no exception. Alongside the jewels and gems of the exhibitors, there will be meetings and educational projects developed throughout the year in collaboration with the eight partner schools. Students from Head, the Vallée de Joux Technical School, Cpne Pôle Arts Appliqués, CFP Arts Genève, and the Institut de Bijouterie de Saumur are invited to express their creativity and submit their work to professionals for the first time. , of the Société Royale Belge de Gemmologie, of the Galdus School and of the Francesco Degni Institute, who have the opportunity to exhibit their projects.
GemGenève has also developed an artistic mentoring program. The initiative, born from an idea by Mathieu Dekeukelaire, allows us to build bridges between the present and the future, federating a community that recognizes the right value in learning and transmitting know-how.
Gemgenève X Head in collaboration with the Grand Théâtre de Genève
For the fourth consecutive year GemGenève will offer around fifteen students from Head, the only school in Switzerland to offer a bachelor’s degree in product, jewelery and accessories design, the opportunity of their first exhibition based on a theme freely inspired by the programming of the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Visitors to the show will be able to discover a series of projects inspired by the opera The Knight of the Rose by Richard Strauss. The idea is to imagine a jewel that symbolizes commitment, but is also a real prop. Ring, necklace, bracelet or tiara: the jewel must be visible from afar and made exclusively with recycled, recovered or unusual materials. All visitors to the exhibition will be invited to vote for their favorite project.
First photomicrography competition
This year, GemGenève offers its visitors a poetic gemological experience. In the hope of discovering the beauty of gems in an unusual way, the salon has developed an original artistic project in collaboration with gemologist Marine Bouvier, the Institut de Bijouterie de Saumur and the Royal Belgian Gemmological Society. GemGenève hosts the first exhibition of photomicrographs. Almost 20 photographic projects created by the students of the two partner training proposals will be revealed to the public for the first time, to reveal the beauty of precious and colored stones by sublimating their inclusions. By revealing the inexhaustible shapes, textures and colors of gems, Marine Bouvier has created a new way of practicing gemology. For this first competition the passionate gemologist introduced the students to the art of capturing the beauty of minerals.
For its 8th edition, GemGenève continues its collaboration with Laura Inghirami and Mathieu Dekeukelaire, who created an unprecedented competition on the mystical theme of the totem animal. Fauna creatures, an inexhaustible source of inspiration, have always stimulated the imagination of jewelers. Using the animal as a creative challenge, GemGenève offers the young prodigies of the Galdus School and the Francesco Degni Institute the chance to create their first bestiary. Some projects, investigating the symbolic link between the human world and the animal world, proved to be particularly poetic.
GemGèneve will also host six awards for the most creative projects. The awards ceremony will be chaired by Mathieu Dekeukelaire, director of GemGenève, in the presence of all the institutions that collaborated on the various projects.
To offer students the opportunity to develop their first professional project of excellence, GemGenève launched its first gouache competition in 2022. Thanks to the success of the competition, which engages students for several months, GemGenève has become a springboard. The gouache competition, supported with the Eric Horovitz Foundation Prize, is highly appreciated by operators in the sector and is organized every year with the support of Asmebi (Association Romande des Métiers de la Bijouterie). Gouache, or gouache, is a drawing technique used in jewelry and a point of reference for model makers, jewelers, gemologists, polishers and setters in every phase of the creation of a jewel.
