Zavod SIAJ
SIAJ -Slovenian Association of Jewellers is a non-profit cultural organization founded in 2021 aimed at promoting contemporary jewellery, fostering the exchange of ideas and experiences, and developing of theoretical and practical projects within the international and national art field.SIAJ was founded in Ljubljana within the community of jewellery designers. They wanted an association where they could create projects, develop exchanges and launch new platforms for a discipline that increasingly calls for professional development. The situation of jewellery designers in Slovenia is somewhat different/difficult. There are no schools or universities and no institution or association specifically dedicated to this discipline. People who wish to educate themselves have to go abroad or acquire this knowledge through a long, independent path. In spite of these challenges, Slovenian designers have found a way through SIAJ to connect with one another and collaborate. In addition to organizing exhibitions and inviting foreign artists, SIAJ helps jewellery designers to partner with schools and open up to youth through various presentations and courses.
SIAJ was created to educate, develop and promote the art of contemporary jewellery. In order to achieve its aims, SIAJ has set out plans:-to promote training courses and other pedagogical activities;-to organise conferences, seminars, masterclasses, artistic residencies and exhibitions;-to undertake actions that appeal to new audiences;-to set up partnerships and projects for artistic and cultural interchanges;-to publish articles, books, catalogues and videos;-to experiment with new materials and technologies.-to preserve, and study the historical heritage.
SIAJ encourages and supports all initiatives aimed at the exchange of information, experimentation, training, and establishing connections among members, both online through the community and in practice through work groups that freely get together to carry out projects, produce documents and develop specific themes. SIAJ adheres to an ethics code that respects individuals and the environment, following a conceptual methodology focused on the improvement of quality through the collection of information and the analysis of results.The founding members of SIAJ are Olga Košica,Urška Košica andRok Marinšek, as well as the support ofother individualswho are passionate about contemporary jewellery.
Slovenian Jewelry Week -SIJW is at the heart of achieving these goals.
Team
Olga Košica
Founder and artistic director of SIWJ and SIAJ – Slovenian Association of Jewellers. She completed her master's degree at the Royal College of Art in London. She is a professional jewellery designer with more than 20 years' experience in this field. She has received numerous international awards, including the British Council Young Creative Fashion Entrepreneur Award, has participated in international projects and exhibitions, and is the co-founder and co-creator of the internationally successful brand OfR jewellery, which was one of the first to bring 3D designed fashion jewellery to the market. As a jewellery designer, she has successfully collaborated with Zlatarna Celje for fifteen years, and is a guest lecturer at universities, both at home and abroad.
Rok Marinšek
A multidisciplinary designer who works in graphic design, branding, art direction and jewellery design. He has participated in numerous international projects and exhibitions, with various Slovenian cultural and artistic institutions, artists, as well as organisations. He has received several awards and prizes for his work. In the project olgafacesrok – OfR, of which he is a cofounder, he explores the field of contemporary jewellery and objects, new technologies and 3D printing.
Urška Košica
Executive Producer of the Slovenian Jewellery Week project:
Urška Košica - has more than twenty years of experience in organising interdisciplinary, social and educational projects. In Maribor, from 2007-2023, she was the conceptual and artistic director of the cultural and educational projects Art Kamp, Kulturni dnevnik, Čitalnica na jasi (Reading Room in the Glade), the programme manager of the Vilinsko mesto festival and the executive producer of the nationwide project Zborovski bum (Choral Boom) in cooperation with the Slovenian School of Education.
As an individual, she received a special award for social responsibility and sustainable development HORUS 2022.
Her fields of activity are production, pedagogy, organising CSO events, conducting pedagogical modules/teaching.
Petra Bole
Petra has worked as a lecturer, artist, designer, writer, curator and editor. She currently serves as the director of Radovljica Municipal Museums.
She was an assistant professor at the Faculty of Design in Slovenia, where she was in charge of the Department of Product Design and worked as Vice Dean for Creative Activity.
Petra’s educational background is in architecture (Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana), jewellery (Master of Art at London Metropolitan University) and the humanities (PhD in Philosophy and Theory of Visual Culture at the Faculty of Humanities Koper/Capodistria, University of Primorska). She completed the school for curators The World of Art, School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing and acquired the professional title of curator at the Ministry of Culture of Republic Slovenia.
Sandra Kocjančič
Dalija Sega
Dalija Sega approaches and creates contemporary jewellery design through the eyes of a sculptor, each piece is an unique miniature sculpture created in silver or gold. She uses enamel in her design, as well as precious and semi-precious stones. She draws her ideas mainly from nature to highlight the beauty that is sometimes hidden from us. Her works have organic shapes, some of them a little rough, but their true beauty is revealed in the details. They demand closeness and interest from the owner or the viewer, who can always discover a new story in them. All her jewellery is her personal confession and narrative, and therefore it is for anyone who wants to listen.
Aleksandra Čas
Since 2005 art historian, now senior curator at the Carinthian Regional Museum, before that curator at the Carinthian Gallery of Fine Arts. In 2012, coordinator for the partner city Slovenj Gradec within the Maribor-European Capital of Culture - ECOC 2012 project. Otherwise, mother of three, lover of 'eco chic' and everything made by hard-working local designers.
Metka Mikuletič
Metka Mikuletič is a Slovenian architect who graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Ljubljana in 2016, under the supervision of Prof. Miloš Florijančič, and will complete her Master's degree in 2020. During and after her studies, she worked on various architectural projects and later as an independent architect in the field of renovation and design of interior design and applied objects. She has always been interested in expressing herself through different media; not only through basic architectural building blocks, but also through words, images and metals. She made her first piece of jewelry - architecture in small pieces - from scrap metal in her father's workshop, continued with aluminium and brass, and gradually moved on to gold. Since autumn 2019, she has been studying goldsmithing, first as a student of the Mengeš Goldsmith School, under the mentorship of David Kramaric and Tina Mežek, and later independently. Currently, she works as a jewelry designer and maker under the brand Mimotho, which is closely related to architecture in concept, design and execution.
Metka Jelek
Neja Kaligaro
Neja Kaligaro started her design journey at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where she studied industrial design. She then continued her education with a Master's in Textile and Clothing design at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering. As a jewellery designer, she first worked at Zlatarna Celje, where, for seven years, she gained valuable experience. She discovered her love for jewellery design, which she describes as a perfect blend of the technical nature of industrial design and the artistic world of fashion. Today, she is an independent designer and the Head of Jewelry Design at an Austrian company where she oversees the design vision and collaborates with a team to plan future collections. She draws inspiration from the natural and cultural heritage, explores an endless universe of ideas, and prefers to listen rather than talk. She transforms stories into unique pieces with her acute attention to detail and love for jewellery design.
Sanda Vidmar
She first encountered jewellery design in high school, where she was introduced to the shapes and behaviour of form in space, using materials that were more accessible at the time. She first tried her hand at designing in silver and metal at a course taught by designer Olga Košica, and later further developed her skills under the tutelage of Martina Obid Mlakar.
She started developing her collections and vision under the name Sanda Vidmar Jewelry in 2020, first with an online shop and her own design studio. She is continuously fulfilling her knowledge and discovering new techniques through courses, workshops and experiences.
Tina Mežek
Tina Mežek, has obtained the title of Master Goldsmith. With her passion for the art of jewellery making, she has developed a wide range of skills and knowledge. As a tutor at the Goldsmith School in Tržič and part of the team at the Jewellery Lab in Rog, she passes on her knowledge to enthusiastic individuals. Together we create an experience that goes beyond technical knowledge and discovers the art of expression through jewellery.