We are thrilled to announce our sixth consecutive participation at the London Fashion Week, the hottest ticket in the spring season of glitz and glamour. While our previous showcases have been devoted mainly to cuts, fabrics and colours, it is time for the minutial art of jewellery design to steal the show. As a creative homage to a great, yet forgotten tradition, the exhibition revisits the lost craftsmanship of the ancient artisans of Dacia, the Roman Empire's richest source of gold, through contemporary pieces by jewellery-makers Ioana Ardelean,Maria Otilia Mihalcea, Adelina Petcan, and Andreia Gabriela Popescu.
'Found.Lost.Found', curated by David Sandu, is part of 'Fashion Utopias', the British Council and British Fashion Council's International Fashion Showcase 2016 in association with London Fashion Week. The project is set up by the Romanian Cultural Institute in London in association with Assamblage - The Romanian Association for Contemporary Jewellery, with the support of UniCredit Bank.
After graduating from the University of Architecture in Bucharest and a ten-year experience as an Art Director, Maria Otilia Mihalcea graduated the Assamblage School of Contemporary Jewellery. After years of collaborative projects she has decided to establish her own brand and online shop - Oval. A prolific designer, she is constantly enriching her portfolio with new creations, most of which have the straightforward purpose of expressing bare emotions in a direct manner.
Currently in her senior year in the Sculpture Department of the Bucharest's University of Fine Arts, Adelina Petcan has attended the courses of Assamblage School of Contemporary Jewellery under David Sandu's guidance since high school. She is fascinated with the three-dimensional forms as well as with sculptural plasticity. Her collections have so far been based on figurative concepts inspired by sculpture in the attempt to translate monumentality in the delicate proportions of jewellery. In 2015 Adelina also graduated Alchimia International Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence, Italy.
Ioana Ardelean is an architect and jewellery designer. Her first collection, 'Bare Fabrication', was presented at the Bucharest Contemporary Jewellery Fair 'Autor' in November 2014 where, a year later, she won the Awesome Award for a later collection entitled 'Choreographic'. Ioana approaches jewellery design from an architectural perspective and draws inspiration from the interplay of space and movement. Ioana attended the Assamblage School of Contemporary Jewellery in 2013 and two years later, in October 2015, she graduated the Alchimia Contemporary School in Florence, Italy.
Andreia Gabriela Popescu has been a designer and manufacturer of contemporary jewellery since 2010. She creates contemporary jewellery in limited series, using gold, silver, gems, and semiprecious natural stones although her favourite material remains gold. Since 2011 her works have been shown at several editions of the Bucharest Contemporary Jewellery Fair 'Autor', Marche, Jewellery Design Fair, ProjectA, ARTISTAR - Milano (Dec 2014, Jan 2016), as well as at BDC Exhibition and HOMI Fiesta - Milano.
Award-winning designer David Sandu has gained international recognition with collections presented all over the world, including the exclusive Inhorgenta and Baselworld. In 2010 he was given the title of Supplier of the Royal Household of Romania. David Sandu is the founder of Assamblage School of Contemporary Jewellery and Assamblage - The Romanian Association for Contemporary Jewellery, the two leading institutions in jewellery design in Romania. In 2015 he was crowned 'Best Romanian Designer' at Forbes Magazine awards ceremony.
When: 19 - 23 February 2016, Opening Hours: 10am-6pm ((last entry 17.15)
Where: West Wing Galleries, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
Free admission but please reserve your seat on Eventbrite.
