Joya, a new jewelry fair, is scheduled to debut in Monaco this fall. But unlike other commercial jewelry events, it is being planned for just 15 exhibitors and with the participation of several cultural institutions.
The intent is “to put jewelry in an historical context, past and present,” said Vanessa Margowski, who has created the event with her business partner, Delphine Pastor-Reiss. The women owned the 11 Columbia gallery of contemporary art and design in the principality from 2003 to 2018.
“When Vanessa came up with this great idea,” Ms. Pastor-Reiss said, “I thought it was right, where the best designers, dealers and gallerists could have a place of choice to exhibit.” The jewelers Elie Top, Karry Berreby and Gabrielle Greiss, all based in Paris, are among the inaugural participants.
L’École, School of Jewelry Arts, the educational program supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, has been involved in planning the new fair, scheduled for Nov. 21-24 at One Monte-Carlo, a residential, retail and event development near the famous casino. The first day will be a preview for V.I.P.s and the press, then it will open to the public. Tickets, at 50 euros ($55), are to be sold at the door. (There are other jewelry fairs named Joya, but this fair has no connection with them.)
“Jewelry dates back to the very first form of art, and there is that legacy at Joya that we are also trying to highlight at L’Ecole,” said Élise Gonnet-Pon, the school’s managing director for France and Europe.
She listed a series of talks, or “conversations” as she called them, that the school plans to present: “The art and science of pearls, Art Deco, the secrets of jewelry design, artists’ jewelry and the relationship between jewelry and dance going back to the 17th century.” It also plans to host creative workshops for young attendees, stage a bookshop and provide 10-minute podcasts on jewelry, in English and French for a listening station in the lounge area.
Ms. Margowski said the fair also intended to celebrate Monaco, with the Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology promising to loan a 1940 vitrine displaying jewelry found during archaeological digs in the principality.
The New National Museum of Monaco has paid for Julien Carreyn, a visual artist based in Paris, to photograph some of the stage jewelry and accessories used in local opera, ballet and theatrical performances and now in the collection of the Société des Bains de Mer, the company whose holdings include the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
The images are to be displayed at the fair, along with a series of three-minute films by Mr. Carreyn that include studio visits with some of the participating jewelers.
Jewelry fairs have had a difficult time in recent years, with Masterpiece, an art and antiques fair in London, ending in 2023 and ArtVendôme, a fair that had been scheduled in January in Paris, never opening at all.
But Joya’s founders and collaborators say their event will be different.
“The jewelry world was looking for something intimate,” Ms. Margowski said. “Exhibitors are looking for something more refined.”
Ms. Gonnet-Pon noted: “The approach of Delphine and Vanessa is to put together a fair of human scale. They are not trying to go bigger, but highlighting the creative aspect.”
And if attendees end up liking what they see, there is a bonus, Ms. Margowski said. “Let’s not forget that security is one of the principality’s assets, which means that jewelry can be worn.”
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