Marti Guixe, Gold key $4 (LE04), 2002, gold-plated silver, 12 x 20 x 20 mm (key)

One of the major contemporary jewelry events in San Francisco of recent months has been the exhibition of Chi ha paura . . .? at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design. The brainchild of Dutch jeweler and cultural provocateur Gijs Bakker, Chi ha paura . . .? seeks to challenge and provoke contemporary jewelry through a production range designed by leading international designers and contemporary jewelers. Fascinated, and maybe even a little fearful, we sent AJF member Ahna Adair to check it out. You can read her review on the AJF website by clicking here.

Frederic Braham, Bonbons tres bons brooch (P19), 2007, blue and red powder coated metal, 22 x 20 x 18 mm

As Adair writes, ‘The name Chi ha paura…? translates in Italian to ‘Who’s afraid of….?’ and implicitly poses the question, ‘Who’s afraid of contemporary jewelry?’ Inviting designers and jewelers to wrestle with this question and many others, Gijs Bakker and associates work toward smart jewelry that can be made accessible to the public through production.’ And what does Adair conclude? This, for example:

Many of the collections pieces exemplify the conceptually rigorous mission of Chi ha paura…?. Frederic Braham’s Bonbons tres bons (2007) appear candy-coated and succinctly touch on complicated issues of a modern way of life mediated by manufactured medicine. Other pieces fell short of such careful conceptual investigation. Marti Guixe’s Gold Key $4 (2002) felt a little like a one-liner. Marc Monzo’s Diamond (2005), an enlarged diamond ring made as a brooch seemed common and predictable and Ron Arad’s Steps (1994) brooch is simply a miniature version of a chair he had already designed, creating something of a souvenir of his work more than a new and thought provoking piece.

You’ll have to visit the AJF website to read the rest. And if you like what you see, you’ll have more opportunity to find out about Chi ha paura . . .? in an interview with the bespectacled one we’ll be publishing next month on the AJF website. (That’s Gijs Bakker, not Harry Potter, who is also famous and wears glasses.) In the meantime, if you happen to be passing through San Francisco, you can check out the exhibition which runs until the 16th May 2010. (To visit the museum’s website, click here.)