300 Art Ornaments is a showcase of selected student pieces, collected by the UJ Jewellery Design and Manufacture Department over the past 5 years. The works for sale include a wide range of award winning silver high-end and contemporary jewellery pieces. The unique designs range from nature-inspired to architectural innovations – an emerging South African brand that covers a broad spectrum of styles and preferences. It includes both intricate, more delicate pieces, as well as bold statement and minimalistic works. The vision of the Department includes foci on expressive art jewellery, as well as high-end silver pieces that conform to commercial requirements such as wearability and durability; a move towards fostering entrepreneurial thinking amongst our students.
The exhibition showcases more than 300 notable jewellery pieces produced by students from their first year to B-Tech level. The show allows the public a unique opportunity to acquire student jewellery pieces and to invest in designer luxury goods without incurring excessive expense. The main aim of this initiative is to market the excellent design talent harnessed in the Jewellery Department, as well as to raise funds to support our continual expansion. In addition to this, it is known that art jewellery and designer high-end jewellery are incredibly small niches within the broader jewellery industry in South Africa. The exhibition aims to showcase original one-of-a-kind art and fine jewellery to the general public and provide opportunities to invest in this growing field. It will furthermore create much-needed awareness and audience development, which will in turn increase recruitment, as well as business opportunities for our alumni. In addition to the student works that will be on exhibition, a number of the Jewellery Departments Alumni will be showcasing their work as well as one of the Departments trusted partners the Thuthuka Jewellery & Product Development Programme.