Kinga Huber, a contemporary jewelry artist whose work is characterized by stimulating contrast and continuous experimentation and who doesn’t step back when it comes to playing with new materials and techniques, gave us some insights regarding the creative process behind her stunning artworks. Kinga is the recepient of the AUTOR Award at Athens Jewellery Week in 2020 and will showcase her collection during AUTOR International Contemporary Jewellery Fair 2022 during 28th – 29th of May at Oscar Maugsh Palace in the heart of Bucharest.
Kinga, your jewelry pieces talk a lot about women’s roles in today’s society and gender. What is your opinion on this topic?
My pieces reflect to the chosen or given roles of women.
Lip-jewelry and finger-jewelry – which can not be worn in any usual way – fulfill the functions of traditional jewelry while being barriers, hindering one’s free actions. Just like an ornamental burqa, or gold plated cuffs, which express the privileges as well as the subservience and dependence of its wearer.
How do you remember the moment you knew you had to make contemporary jewelry and the beginning of your artistic journey in this field?
Even during my studies I always looked for out-of-the-ordinary solutions, ones that were unconventional, unexpected. I’ve always been attracted to the unknown, pushing boundaries, challenging myself.
Which are the steps you are going through in order to create a new concept for a collection?
I constantly think about new objects- whatever I come across or touch, they’ll remind me of jewelry. The ones that stay with me are the ones that I just can’t get out of my head for some reason or that fit in my existing series. It’s always the idea first and later on, I choose the most appropriate technique and materials. Eventually, I figure out what kind of jewelry it’s going to be, a brooch, a necklace, or a ring… I rarely draw, I tend to experiment with the materials themselves straight away. I make a maximum of 3 pieces of a series of some of my jewelry- though these are not identical either, I do, however, have a lot of unique pieces.
When do you acknowledge that a collection is finished and how do you choose the right moment to launch it?
Sometimes I need to meet a deadline (my most influential muse), which defines the duration of the design and production phases. It does happen, however, that I put aside something even for years if I lose interest in it or something else grabs my attention. In some cases I keep developing my series at a slow pace, returning to them time and again.
What type of jewelry characterizes you the best?
The ones that are filled with thoughts and humor.
You are also part of a team of organizers in your jewelry milieu. How do you perceive the Hungarian contemporary jewelry scene at this moment? Is there something important we should know about?
Hungarian artisan/contemporary jewelry has never had it easy. Jewelers who graduated from the University of Applied Arts were not allowed to use precious metals officially/legally during the socialist era, it was a state monopoly.
Hallmarks have gradually become an option for them over the years. Merely gold and precious stones were seen as valuable in the public eye.
BJW-Budapest Jewelry Week (https://www.budapestjewelryweek.com/) was founded both in order to sensitize people to the new and unusual-shaped jewels made of unconventional materials and encourage them to purchase and wear them as well as artists to create contemporary jewelry.
It is especially important today since exhibition and vendor space is constantly changing. There is no gallery currently in Budapest dealing with exclusively contemporary jewelry, they are sold among other design objects and clothes. Younger artists share workshops that open to the street, where they can work together, sell their jewels and also organize events.
BJW and Budapest Design Week are therefore a splendid opportunity to meet artists and their works. I am a founder of BJW along with my colleagues, but a few years ago we handed over the organizational tasks to a group of artists from a younger generation.
Why do you think it’s important to be part of an event like the AUTOR Fair?
The Autor and other international exhibitions and fairs provide a great chance for jewelers to meet not just each other but collectors, gallerists, and authors as well. It’s so illuminating and uplifting to talk to one another, exchange opinions, acquire knowledge, actually meet and see those jewelers and theirs works of art that you have only seen on the internet or in newspapers or books. Meeting in person and having the ability to touch the objects have become especially important now, having experienced limitations of the complete lockdown during the pandemic.