Gdańsk Jewellery Week 2026: Unnecessary Jewellery Exhibition at Heweliusza 31

The International Amber Association in Gdańsk will host the opening of the Unnecessary Jewellery exhibition on October 3. It is another attraction of this year's Gdańsk Jewellery Week.

Unnecessary Jewellery is an open curatorial project that looks equally for high-quality works of jewelry art that are representative on a global scale (the objects are made by recognized artists awarded at international shows), and for a new audience and an opportunity to present to the public beyond the narrow circle of specialists and enthusiasts of this niche field.

Time for jewelry

The curators of the exhibition, Prof. Sławomir Fijałkowski, Arek Wolski and Anna Wójcik-Korbas, believe that with the growth of interest in applied arts observed in recent years (including textiles, glass and ceramics), the time has come for jewelry. The name Unnecessary Jewellery refers to the merely apparent redundancy of jewelry, which in essence has remained a strong sign of identity and a means of self-expression for thousands of years.

Works by 20 artists from 7 countries

The exhibition presents works by 20 artists from Poland, Austria, Germany, Finland, the United Kingdom, Mexico and South Korea, who interpreted the title phrase in their own characteristic way, using goldsmithing and non-goldsmithing techniques, always with attention to the smallest detail. The exhibition consists of several dozen jewelry objects: items of everyday and extraordinary use whose value will not fade with time.

The second edition

This is the second edition of a recurring project that has been organized since 2025. In 2026, in a new form, it debuted at the Inhorgenta Munich fair, and then appeared in the prestigious Frame section at the Handwerk & Design fair in Munich and at the Pokój Śniadań gallery in Warsaw. The exhibition at the International Amber Association is another opportunity to present to a wide audience this year's selection, which comprises over 100 jewelry objects.

On the border of art, craft and design

Author jewelry, situated on the border of art, craft and design, is today looking for new spaces for experiments in form, technique and material, and, in terms of narrative, for a point of reference in both universal matters and the problems of everyday life.

Personal stories and global problems

Jewelry becomes a medium that, despite its small size, contains a range of content, from personal stories to the spectrum of problems facing today's world. At the same time, unlike other fields of contemporary art, it uses a language of symbols and meanings drawn from a centuries-old tradition of adorning the body.

An alternative to the unified aesthetic of mainstream jewelry

The shape of the exhibition reflects the diversity of ways of thinking about body adornment. It includes examples of sculptural and constructional jewelry, figurative brooches, and objects that serve as a critical message about the reality around us. In the colorful mosaic of several dozen works, the criteria of quality of workmanship and usability resound unanimously. As a whole, the exhibition is a strong alternative to the unified aesthetic of mainstream jewelry.

The curators of the exhibition are Prof. Sławomir Fijałkowski, Arek Wolski and Anna Wójcik-Korbas

Exhibition participants: Marcin Bogusław, Bogumił Bytomski, Norman Cherry, Bartosz Maria Chmielewski, Alberto Dávila, Sławomir Fijałkowski, Jolanta Gazda, Martyna Golińska, Eero Hintsanen, Paweł Kaczyński, Małgorzata Kalińska, Orsolya Karman, Jarosław Kolec, Adriana Lisowska, Konstanze Prechtl, Krzysztof Roszkiewicz, Anna Sikorska, Rose Stach, Gisbert Stach, Youjin Um, Arek Wolski.

More information:
email: unnecessaryjewellery@gmail.com

Unnecessary Jewellery Exhibition
International Amber Association
ul. Heweliusza 31, 80-861 Gdańsk
Opening: 3.10.2026
www: https://www.amber.org.pl
email: office@amber.org.pl

Photo: International Amber Association / Unnecessary Jewellery