Art doesn’t have to hang on a wall. It can sit on your finger, hang around your neck or be pinned to your jacket. Art jewellery is less about diamonds and gold and more about ideas: one-off pieces that are closer to small sculptures for the body than conventional jewellery.
The genre has a serious following internationally but is less familiar here at home. Now a new exhibition brings together 15 South African art jewellers to take on one of art’s oldest subjects: the still life. Art Jewellery in Conversation with Still Life is a collaboration between Strauss & Co and Stellenbosch University’s Creative Jewellery and Metal Design Division. The pieces will be auctioned through Strauss & Co after the exhibition.
From dahlias to bananas
Anika Lötter’s Herinnering deur Herhaalde Gewoontes is a brooch inspired by Irma Stern’s 1935 painting Dahlias, which sold at Strauss & Co for a whopping R13.725m last month. Made largely from wool and mohair, it also has a personal connection as Lötter’s grandmother grew dahlias and created still lifes of flowers around her home. The brooch is estimated at a slightly more attainable R4,200–R4,800.
Eric Loubser, meanwhile, embraces the banana. His pieces include a painted banana brooch and a carved wooden banana necklace finished in faux gold leaf. His references range from Andy Warhol and Paul Gauguin to Maurizio Cattelan’s famously taped-to-the-wall banana, Comedian. Elsewhere, there’s silver made to look like melting candle wax, porcelain doll limbs and eyes, and Joani Groenewald’s bruised and bandaged pears.
“South African art jewellers exhibit internationally, win awards and are collected by museums,” says Strauss & Co’s Jill van Dugteren, yet there are relatively few platforms for them at home. Geraldine Fenn, one of the 15, won Art Jewelry Forum’s inaugural Solo Exhibition Award in 2025 and had a solo show in Montreal this year.
Art Jewellery in Conversation with Still Life is on view at the Oude Leeskamer in Stellenbosch from October 3–11 during Woordfees. Entrance is free
