Le Arti Orafe Archives | gioiellis.com

Scholarships to learn the art of jewelry in Florence

Published on May 27, 2022

Scholarships to learn the magic of jewelry and goldsmithing in Florence. Lao, Le Arti Orafe, is one of the most popular goldsmith schools in Italy and a point of reference for research jewelery also abroad. Now the school, together with the luxury hotel The Place Firenze, announce the birth of the first project supported by The Place of Wonders, corporate social responsibility (i.e. a company that also deals with social impact) created by the Babini family, historical owner of the hotel structure, to promote the growth of the culture of the manufacturing arts and invest in the training of new generation professionals in the sector.

The project includes a three-year program for the training of three young local talents, supporting them in order not to lose the artisan culture and the unique character that have made Florence famous in the world also for its artisan creativity. Applications must be received by 15 July and the assignment will be based on merit and residence, with the commitment of a professional continuity located in Tuscany. In October, three scholarships will be funded in the courses of Goldsmithing, Jewelery Design and Setting, covered 50% by The Place of Wonders and 50% by Lao Le Arti Orafe. Scholarships that will be subsequently confirmed for the second and possibly the third year of the course of study, obviously if the recipients achieve the expected results. The courses will be held at the Lao headquarters in via dei Serragli in Florence. Info at this link.

Final seven for the designers of Preziosa Young

Published on October 4, 2021

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Zihan Yang, sterling silver, 18K yellow gold, 23.5K gold foil 45 x 55 x 45 mm

Preziosa Young is a competition organized by Lao (Le Arti Orafe Jewelery School) and has been held since 2008. It is an international competition that aims to promote the younger generations and encourage their creativity. The jewels of the seven young artists selected by an international jury for their inventive skills in the materials used, in the techniques used, in the proposal of innovative concepts and designs will now be visible at the Oratory of San Rocco in Padua (Italy) from 9 October until November 7. It is the last stage of the exhibition of the winners of the competition which took place at the Galleria del Palazzo Coveri in Florence and, in January 2021, in Barcelona in the Hannah Gallery.

Each of the selected artists has its own peculiarity, its own specificity, and each has presented a project which shows the originality and quality of the research she is working on. The works they present impeccably interpret the trends and the way of feeling of the contemporary world. Three themes, three common threads under which the pieces on display are brought together: Psychological Jewel, with the works of Chia-Hsien Lin, Dongyi Wu and Zihan Yang; the Hybrid Jewels, by Elwy Schutten and Marie Masson; the Ethical Jewel with the works of Rachael Colley and Jess Tolbert.
Gió Carbone, curator of the exhibition

The jury that selected the works is made up of curators, artists and jewelery critics such as Giovanni Corvaja, Eugenia Gadaleta, Kazumi Nagano, Cóilín O’Dubhghaill, Renzo Pasquale, Carla Riccoboni, Sam Tho Duong.

Chia-Hsien Lin. Smelling Memories - Forest Wearable jewellery, 2019 Gelatine, soap base, silver-plated brass, essential oil — Chia-Hsien Lin. Smelling Memories – Forest Wearable jewellery, 2019 Gelatine, soap base, silver-plated brass, essential oil

The seven artists protagonists of this great traveling exhibition compete for the assignment of two special prizes offered by the school: a three-month stay in Florence as a resident artist, offered by Le Arti Orafe, which this year was not possible to assign due to the restrictive measures resulting from the spread of the pandemic, and a free exhibition space at the Munich fair Inorghenta2021, won by Zihan Yang jewelry designer from China. The other young designers are Elwy Schutten, Dutch, trained in Jewelery design at Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts & Design, Chia-Hsien Lin, Taiwanese jewelry designer, recently graduated from Birmingham City University, Marie Masson, French with a Masters from the National Arts and Design School of Limoges, Jess Tolbert, American who studied Art History in Florence and then specialized in Art and Jewelery at Texas State University, and with a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois.

Rachael Colley. Sha-green Ring, 2019. Denatured citrus fruit peel, sintered aluminium

Finally, Rachael Colley, an English designer who studied 3D Design, Silverware and Jewelery, graduating from Loughborough University, with a Masters in Gold, Silver, Metalworking and Jewelery from the Royal College of Art in London, and Dongyi Wu, another Chinese designer, with studies at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Dongyi Wu. Tired1 Necklace, 2019. Gloves, fabric, rubber, cotton, sterling silver, aluminium cans, sewing thread, rubber cord, plastic

Elwy Schutten. Mask or groups? Necklace, 2019. Silver, soapstone, alabaster

Jess Tolbert. Greater-Than Series Necklace, 2019. Fused steel staples

Marie Masson. Cockade 02, Brooch, 2017. Leather, pheasant moulting feathers, hematite, metal

Zihan Yang. D.H. VII Brooch, 2019. Sterling silver, 18K yellow gold, stainless steel (pin)

In Florence a Preziosa Week

Published on May 24, 2017

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In Florence is the time of Preziosa 2017, a week dedicated to jewellery. Here is the agenda ♦
Le Arti Orafe, Lao for the friends, is an esteemed jewelery school that attracts students from all over the world. But it is also the organizer of Preziosa 2017, the Florence Jewelery Week, an event dedicated to the world of jewels, artistic research, craftsmanship and design. It takes place in Florence from 24 to 28 May. In reality, more than just a single event, we have to talk about a series of occasions, organized at the Bellini Museum, Palazzo Coveri Gallery, Botticelli Gallery, the Conservatory Hall of the Church of Santo Spirito and, of course, at Le Arti Orafe Jewelery School, in Via dei Serragli 104.
At Preziosa there are names such as Robert Baines, Sibylle Umlauf, Fuchi Arata, Tasso Mattar and Damien Schwaag, and curators, gallery and critics including Inger Wästberg, Martina Dempf, Maria Cristina Bergesio, Roberta Bernabei and Maria Laura La Mantia. The guest will be Petra Hölscher, representing the Neue Sammlung -The Design Museum at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, which houses the most important collection in the world dedicated to contemporary jewelery. In all, a week dedicated to the jewelery world, with exhibitions, conferences, workshops, meetings, demonstrations, with the aim of highlighting the connection between innovative design and technology, artistic research and traditional craftsmanship that influence contemporary jewelery creation international.
Here is the program
Bellini Museum: works by European, Japanese and Australian artists – only exibition by Fuchi Arata, Robert Baines, Sibylle Umlauf and the exhibition iNÁCARME! Tasso Mattar’s obsession with Mother of Pearl, Danni Schwaag by Tasso Mattar, and New Iranian & Persian jewelry, a selection of works by young artists from the Mahe Mehr Institute in Teheran by Kevin Murray.
Gallery of Palazzo Coveri: shows Preziosa Young 2017, with creations of young talents Fang Jin Yeh, Qian Wang, Shachar Cohen, Xiaodai Huang, international contest winners and representatives of a new generation of artists who have been able to employ new technologies and unusual materials to revitalize the goldsmith tradition of their countries.
Botticelli Gallery: Contemporary Swedish Silver. New approaches to a lingering tradition of the Swedish group Lod Metallformgivning with works by Erik Toudeng, Lena Jerström, Tobias Birgersson, Klara Eriksson, Petronella Eriksson, Pernilla Sylwan, by Inger Wästberg.
Lao: In-depth seminars at the Via dei Serragli, held by Tasso Mattar (Enjoying organic material), Kevin Murray (Promise Object), Robert Baines (Post-doctoral research proposals) and Martina Dempf (Touch wood).
Conservatory Hall of the Holy Spirit Church: meetings and conferences held by jewelers and curators, such as Maria Cristina Bergesio (Alice in the Country of the Contemporary Jewel), Roberta Bernabei (Integrating traditional and high-tech goldsmithing techniques in wearables and jewellery that aid wellbeing ), Maria Laura La Mantia (A small digression on the use of celestial symbols in the form of object or gemstone in jewelery of the eighteenth century), Inger Wästberg (Transformation from craft to art), Shruti Agrawal (Jewelery and Jewelery) by Kevin Murray (Global Art Jewelery) or by the same artists as Preziosa 2017 Florence Jewelery Week: Jewelery on the High Wire, Martina Dempf (Jewelery and wood – An artistic challenge), Tasso Mattar (Jewelry inspired by nature).
Preziosa 2017 – Florence Jewelery Week
ore 17.00 Galleria Botticelli, Via Maggio 39/r
ore 18.00 Galleria di Palazzo Coveri, L.no Guicciardini, 19
ore 19.00 Museo Bellini, L.no Soderini 5
Exhibitions, May 25-28, 9 am-6pm
Bellini Museum, Lungarno Soderini 5,
Gallery of Palazzo Coveri, Lungarno Guicciardini 19,
Galleria Botticelli, Via Maggio 39
Conferences, 26-27 May, 11.00-13.00 / 14.30-18.00
Council Room of the Church of Santo Spirito, Piazza S. Spirito
Seminars, May 25-28, 9 am-6pm
Lao – The Arts Orafe Jewelery School, Via dei Serragli 104
Crafts Presentation, May 28, 11.00-18.00,
Lao – The Arts Orafe Jewelery School, Via dei Serragli 104
Info Point and Secretariat on the days of the event 11.00-18.00
Lao in Palazzo Capponi, Via Michelozzi, 2
Lao – The Arts Orafe Jewelery School
Via dei Serragli 104 – 50124 Florence