Jewelry as a Medium of Exchange: Makers Move
Josephine Winther and Gitte Nygaard will discuss their project, Makers Move, and share ideas about how exchange reflects our relationship to objects, jewelry, and each other during a special presentation in support of NYC Jewelry Week.
Makers Move is a mobile jewelry workshop on a converted carrier bike. Nygaard and Winther created this transportable studio in 2012, as a way to renegotiate the relationship between maker and wearer and wearer and object. They wanted to get out of the confined workspace where jewelry objects are created, completely detached from the meaning that will be ascribed to them once they are presented in the gallery space, sold, and worn.
With Makers Move, Nygaard and Winther invite people to share their stories about pieces of jewelry or small objects that have special meaning to them. In return for their stories, participants receive a small pewter cast of their object or jewelry, made on the spot and mounted in a pendant as an amulet. The mobile workshop becomes a “medium of exchange,” and the amulet becomes a symbolic representation of the story as it was shared.
About the artists
Josephine Winther is a goldsmith who holds an MA from the Royal College of Art in London. Together with Gitte Nygaard she is co-founder of Makers Move. Currently Winther serves as an associate professor at Design School Kolding, and she has her own studio in Holbæk.
Gitte Nygaard works across disciplines to expand conversations and inspire awareness of the relationship between ourselves and the objects we live with. Her work moves beyond the gallery to connect the seemingly unexpected and explore the often overlooked. She creates artworks, functional objects, collections, commissioned pieces, and project-based collaborations.
About New York City Jewelry Week
New York City Jewelry Week is the first and only local week dedicated to promoting and celebrating the world of jewelry through educational and innovative focused programming.
The inaugural NYCJW welcomed 10,000 arts and culture enthusiasts who explored the multifaceted jewelry industry through ground-breaking exhibitions, panel discussions led by industry experts, exclusive workshop visits, heritage-house tours, innovative retail collaborations, and other unforgettable one-of-a-kind programming created by the best and brightest in the industry. Year One partners included The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MAD Museum, The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Christie’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Verdura, David Webb, Mahnaz Collection, Featherstone Design, Bulgari, Fred Leighton, Lulu Frost, Greenwich Street Jewelers, 92nd Street Y Jewelry Center, and many more.
