The district of Valenza, in the province of Alessandria, is the center of high jewelery in Italy, where many of the large Maisons in the sector are based. An activity that is at the center of the Valenza Jewelry Week from 16 to 18 May. The event is organized by the Municipality of Valenza in collaboration with Roma Jewelry Week and Fondazione Mani Intelligenti. The objective is to enhance the culture of jewelery and goldsmith arts, as well as the historical and intangible heritage of one of the most important goldsmith districts in Italy.
The event was anticipated during the Ri-Trovamenti exhibition. The jewel between Rome and Valenza, created at the Napoleonic Museum in Rome. Now the protagonists of the Valenza Jewelry Week will be the creations of goldsmith artists and jewelry designers, students, alumni and young talent from Rome and all over Italy, who will dialogue with those of the Valenza goldsmith masters.
For the inauguration, Thursday 16 May, two openings of the scheduled exhibitions are scheduled, one at Palazzo Valentino – Municipal Culture Center and the other at the Valenzana Goldsmith’s Art Exhibition Center. At the Municipal Culture Center there is an exhibition of jewels made by companies, master goldsmiths, authors and designers from all over Italy, who will dialogue with each other and with the site specific installation, dedicated to the theme of the exhibition, created by the artist Antonio De Luca. The colors of the precious gems set in the jewels on display will compare with the material painting, delicate and at the same time incisive, proposed by the painter. Also on display is a selection of works from the Filodoppio project curated by Lia Lenti and Domenico Maria Papa. Filodouble conceptually follows and renews by updating the project, undertaken since 2020, of collaboration between artists and companies in the goldsmith district of Valenza for the design and production of unique works including jewellery, wearable works of art and unpublished creations, experimenting with new contents and creative paths.
With the aim of making Valenza’s historical and cultural heritage known and rediscovering the centenary history of Valencian goldsmith art, a route has been created with visits to some workshops in the area, scheduled for Friday 17 May.
The creations of students and alumni of the European Institute of Design of Rome and Turin and of the Accademia Italiana will also be on display at the Municipal Cultural Center. The alumni of Ied Turin will present some projects created in collaboration with some companies present in the area. Also present were the Valencian schools For.Al Vincenzo Melchiorre, IIS Benvenuto Cellini, ITS GEM, the winners of the Jewelry Junior Program and the creations of the primary school students of Valenza.
The focus is Know-How which is expressed in different ways by the different participants.
Valencian companies represent a stylistic signature that is the result of the work and skills acquired over time by local goldsmiths and jewelers. Craftsmen who have been able to operate, over time, respecting traditional techniques without, however, giving up looking to the future, giving life to creations always oriented towards high quality. Even today, the ability of each company to grow and evolve, through a combination of tradition and innovation, has meant that the know-how of Valencian goldsmith art is recognized and appreciated throughout the world.
The new Roman school of contemporary jewelery will do so through the history and tradition of Masenza. The Alter vanguard – Neo Roman School of contemporary jewellery, inherits knowledge, languages and stories from the experience of the artist’s jewelery of the Masenza case of the 60s and 70s, in which skilled craftsmen lent their qualities of goldsmith technique to the artists of the ‘900. The artists and designers of the Incinque Jewels project and those selected by RJW from all over Italy will combine technique with creative flair to represent Italian know-how, shaping the stones following the changes in nature and their own stylistic signature. In this context, the experience of the Incinque Open Art Monti gallery in Rome, as an artist residency dedicated to contemporary jewellery, offers a starting point for further dialogue between the artists themselves.
An exhibition dedicated to the Valenza goldsmith tradition will be set up at the Valencian Goldsmith Art Exhibition Center. Almost a hundred years after Caramora’s arrival in Valenza, around 43 goldsmith companies were active in the city with an approximate total of 613 workers. More than two hundred years later, there are 800 companies active in the area and there are around 4,500 goldsmith workers.
