AJF Logo
ANNUAL REVIEW

2014/2015

 

Thank you one and all for supporting Art Jewelry Forum in 2014. We love you. Happy New Year!!

 

The AJF Board...

Sofia Björkman

Doug Bucci

Raïssa Bump

Susan Cummins

Liesbeth den Besten
Marion Fulk

Susan Kempin

Bella Neyman

Sienna Patti

Linda Peshkin

Tanel Veenre

...and Staff

Rebekah Frank

Marthe Le Van

Benjamin Lignel

Nathalie Mornu

 Spread the Word! Get the AJF logo & add it to your site.
Friend us on Facebook. 
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter & Pinterest, too! 

2015: A few important dates for the new year. Make a note.

 

2015 AJF limited-edition pin 
by emiko oye

JANUARY 1

New Pin

Starting with donations on January 1, 2015, supporters of AJF at the $125 level and higher will receive the limited-edition pin designed for AJF by emiko oye. She is an American jeweler living in San Francisco who is well known for her work with recycled material, specifically LEGO®. Suggest your friends support AJF so you can compare each others' LEGO® building styles!

 

JANUARY 1

New Supporter Database

There are many changes coming to AJF for 2015! Some are hidden behind the screen, you might say. The first to happen will be the implementation of a new database to help us better manage our records. There's sure to be glitches, so please be patient as we work to planish, straighten, and sand them out. The end result will be a better experience for everyone!

 

AJF editor, Benjamin Lignel 

JANUARY 1

On the Website: AJF Blog 

The interviews AJF has been posting on the blog will be moved to the main website and all new interviews of artists about their recent exhibitions will now be found under Interviews: Artists. Don't worry ... they will continue to be published with regularity; we know how much you enjoy hearing about what drives the thoughts behind contemporary jewelry.

 

Note from the Editor, Benjamin Lignel

The scope of the 2015 One on One series will shift away from jewelry objects, and focus instead on the social rituals that they are embedded in, or the narrative that they serve. The general shift will be to produce things for jewelers, collectors, and dealers, rather than just things about them. The point is to provide intellectual stimulation, but also to position jewelry squarely within the wider context of culture. 

 

MARCH 11-17

Schmuck 2015 in Munich, Germany

AJF is pleased that the much-anticipated release of our latest book, Shows and Tales, will happen during Schmuck in Munich, Germany. You can, once again, find us at the Galerie Marzee booth. Thanks to Galerie Marzee and Marie-José van den Hout for being generous with their space again this year!

 

The AJF AA winner, Seulgi Kwon, and the four finalists (Attai Chen, Benedikt Fischer, Lauren Kalman, and Heejoo Kim) will show their work during Schmuck at the Platina Stockholm booth. AJF is pleased to be showing such a wide variety of makers during the event. Thanks to Platina Stockholm and Sofia Björkman for making this possible.

Seulgi Kwon
Attai Chan
Benedikt Fischer
Lauren Kalman
Lauren Kalman
Heejoo Kim

The AJF Schmuck Dinner will take place Thursday, March 12 at 8 pm at the Georgenhof restaurant. Take a break from the exhibition exhaustion to have a casual dinner with AJF supporters of all kinds!

 

APRIL 18-25

AJF to Host Studio Jewelry Collectors Tour in San Francisco

AJF is hosting the San Francisco leg of an inaugural Studio Jewelry Collectors tour through the American West. The tour will visit artist studios, museums, and private collections in San Francisco, California, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Houston, Texas. You have the option to join the tour in different cities or to complete the entire eight-day itinerary. Details about the trip can be found here. For more information and questions, please contact Meg MacDonald.

 

MAY 19

Convening, Part of the Pre-SNAG Conference

AJF will be hosting a one-day workshop on May 19, 2015, as part of the pre-conference Convening during the Society of North American Goldsmiths conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The topic will be how to add contemporary jewelers to Wikipedia and will focus on the importance of bringing jewelry into mainstream recognition. Go ahead ... take a look and see how many jewelry artists are listed on Wikipedia right now! It is shockingly void.

 

OCTOBER 2015

AJF Trip to Barcelona, Spain

The 2015 AJF trip will coincide with JOYA in Barcelona and combine studio visits, museum tours, and sightseeing with all the best contemporary jewelry in Spain. Be sure to make a note on your calendar. 

 

2014: It was an exciting year!

 

WEBSITE

AJF published insightful original, commissioned content several times a week. What other organization produces this much? TOTAL POSTS: 134

 

 

WRITERS

Our pool of contributors to the website continues to grow: this year, 48 different writers from 15 different countries produced 134 items for the website--with 29 new writers, too many to show here!

 

2014 AJF PIN

David Bielander designed the Baby Slug pin exclusively for AJF supporters. We hope you got yours!

SUPPORTERS

This is how our over 400 supporters identify themselves.

 

AJF BEST OF INTERVIEWS

AJF's second book, Best of Interviews, was so successful we made a second print run! The book begins what we hope becomes a tradition for AJF: self-publishing small books, with content pulled from the website as well as articles commissioned specifically for each book. We are excited to make the excellent content on the website available for you to tuck away on your shelves and read when the power goes out.




 

SOCIAL MEDIA

AJF's online community extends from the website to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. We've cultivated a lot of followers-more than 7500 on Facebook, 835 on Twitter, and 506 on Pinterest. We share new content daily, including all original content from our website, jewelry portfolios from recent graduates, professional opportunities for makers and scholars, photos from AJF activities around the world, and much, much more. 

 

One highlight of 2014 was a series of five themed Pinterest boards curated by marketing intern Olivia Shih. Olivia's photo collections explore current topics in jewelry, including the body, Asia, sex and gender, transience, and architecture.

 

The social media team has many exciting projects planned for 2015. Top of the list is collaborating with marketing intern Anna Johnson to create a vigorous Instagram image feed. We also plan to grow AJF's community through increased advertising and turn our thousands of social media followers into AJF supporters. 

 

SWEDEN AND ESTONIA

This past fall, AJF organized its most successful trip ever. During their trip to the "coolest corner," 23 supporters of AJF got to know the work of Swedish and Estonian artists, with a little bit of Finnish work as well.

 

MORE ABOUT YOU ...

AJF supporters really stepped up this year! When we asked for help to raise money for the upcoming book, Shows and Tales, the response was overwhelming. We met the initial goal of $12,000 within a week and then doubled the goal by the end of the campaign, raising $24,000 in a single month! As a nonprofit, everything we do is funded by donations, and the wave of support for the book was a boon to our little souls. 



Thanks to all of you for your continued confidence in what we at AJF strive to do!

Here's to you!