How One Word Inspired Top Designers


Ice Bite Hero
Big Bite – Mark Schneider
Ice, that’s the word the American Jewelry Design Council (AJDC) gave to its members. Their challenge was to make jewelry that evoked it, which you see here.

No rules. No direction. No boundaries.

The AJDC, a non-profit that promotes the application of jewelry design as art, comes up with a new theme every year. Past years have included “wave,” “puzzle,” and “tear.” Invitation-only members like Alan Revere, Alishan Halebian, Todd Reed, Mark Schneider, and Katey Brunini, rush back to their studios and make museum-worthy objects that express it.

Brilliant Peril Brooch
“Variations on a Theme: 25 Years Of Design from the AJDC” is a traveling exhibition of more than 150 jewelry pieces chosen from previous years and previous themes. It is a celebration of creativity – a dramatic, thought-provoking, and entertaining display that inspires you to consider, “What type of jewelry would you make if given one word, like ‘ice’?”

“Variations of a Theme: 25 Years of Design from the AJDC” comes to GIA’s museum in Carlsbad from the end of July 2015 to early June 2016.