Gdańsk Jewellery Week 2026: Winning Amberif Design Award 2026 Piece Stays in Gdańsk

On October 2, at the opening of 4 exhibitions at the Amber Museum, Mateusz Nowaczyk, a member of the Management Board of Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie S.A., handed the winning piece of Amberif Design Award 2026 by Ivona Haurash over to the museum collection. It marks the beginning of a new tradition tied to one of the most important art jewelry competitions in Europe.

The awarded piece, “Dialogue of Matter,” was chosen unanimously by the international jury. The project sets up a dialogue between two orders of matter: Baltic amber, symbolizing memory, nature and geological time, and a deformed plastic bag, a trace of contemporary consumption.

A reflection on the present

The jury highlighted the maturity of the interpretation of the competition theme “Magia Materii” (The Magic of Matter) and the skillful combination of reflection on the present with the symbolic potential of the material. In the jurors’ opinion, the project convincingly speaks about responsibility, time and the consequences of human actions. A plastic object associated with disposability was transformed into a lasting setting for amber. As a result, the jewelry becomes not a decoration but a carrier of ideas and of reflection on the relationship between humans and the world around them.

A worldwide competition with the highest prizes in Europe

The scale of this year’s competition shows the standing of this success. Amberif Design Award 2026 received 207 entries from 28 countries. 41 works by 39 artists representing Europe, Asia and both Americas qualified for the final exhibition.

Amberif Design Award is currently the best-paid competition devoted exclusively to art jewelry in Europe. The Grand Prix winner, Ivona Haurash, received the Mayor of the City of Gdańsk Award of PLN 30,000 and 1 kilogram of silver donated by KGHM Polska Miedź. As a result, the competition not only promotes the most outstanding achievements in contemporary art jewelry but also offers one of the most significant financial distinctions for jewelry designers in Europe. The winners were selected by an international jury of recognized authorities in contemporary art jewelry: Naomi Filmer from the United Kingdom, Sara Gackowska from Poland, Claudia Lassner from Germany and Ruudt Peters from the Netherlands. This panel unanimously awarded the Grand Prix to Ivona Haurash.

The beginning of a new tradition

During the ceremony, Mateusz Nowaczyk declared that the winning pieces of Amberif Design Award will be handed over to the Amber Museum collection in the following years as well. As a result, the most important works awarded in one of the most prestigious art jewelry competitions in Europe will remain in Gdańsk and will be available to residents, tourists and future generations of designers.

Gdańsk Jewellery Week is organized by Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie S.A., the operator of the strategy Gdańsk – the World Capital of Amber. One of its aims is to develop contemporary design and to build collections documenting the most important phenomena in the world of amber and art jewelry. Handing the winning piece of Amberif Design Award 2026 over to the Amber Museum collection is an example of actions that preserve the most valuable achievements of contemporary design in Gdańsk and make them available to further audiences.