PAID PARTNER CONTENT
PHOTO ESSAY
When Workshops Turn into Bomb Shelters
By Elena Karpilova

Elena Karpilova collected images and mini-interviews from more than a dozen jewelers in Ukraine.

“We live in Lviv,” says Myroslava Kozar. “As soon as the war started, we immediately put down all our tools and began to house people from cities located in the most dangerous areas in our workshop.”

Valeria Guzema's company has had to suspend sales. “Part of our team is hiding in bomb shelters, and part has left the country for security reasons. We provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Every day we help distribute necessary information for victims on Instagram, in order to quickly find help.” 

Sergey Zhernov and his family fled to Geneva. “At the moment we are refugees,” says his wife, Lilia. “We [seek] an opportunity to hold an exhibition of our works that we brought with us, and are looking for a workshop here. However, all our tools, materials, and sketches have remained in Kyiv.”

Anna Yasynska says, “I had to leave Kyiv to move my workshop to a safer one in the west. I am currently volunteering, searching for military ammunition abroad and weaving camouflage nets for the army. I believe in the indomitable strength of the spirit of the Ukrainian people.”

Caption: Guzema Fine Jewelry, 2021, two mono-earrings from the Independence collection, 14-karat yellow gold, photo: Stephan Lisowski
Jewelry That Makes You Think.
AJF BOOKSTORE
Written by Susan Cummins and Damian Skinner

For more than four decades, Laurie Hall has been making stories the subject of her work. Her playful and funny jewelry beset with found objects is about the places she lives and the landscapes that fill her imagination, about her family history and different ideas of what it is to be an American.

As a jeweler, Hall never plays it safe, preferring to fly by the seat of her pants and push her skills and technical knowledge. She amuses herself and, in the process, amuses the wearer and viewer. She is a product of the jewelry histories that make the Pacific Northwest unique within the larger story of American contemporary jewelry. Featuring 58 images of Hall’s jewelry spanning the period from 1974 to 2019, this book explores why she is an important maker whose practice deserves to be more widely known. This is the story of Laurie Hall’s jewelry.

$45. Purchase here. All proceeds benefit AJF.
AJF has the largest international audience of art jewelry buyers, collectors, makers, gallerists, and institutions in the world. We reach more art jewelry buyers worldwide than any other organization.
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