The ‘Sixty Diamonds and Many More’ exhibition has opened at the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in Israel and will showcase the results of a diamond jewellery design competition held by the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies (IDI) to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary.
The 11 short-listed designs will be displayed in the expo curated by museum art director, Yehuda Kassif.
“The jewellery designs showed many different influences, some of them surprising,” Kassif told Rapaport News.
“There were motifs that reflected local plants such as pomegranates, the Sabra cactus and sheaves of wheat, as well as birds of Israel, archaeological sites, desert landscapes, urban high rises and even quotes from Israel’s Declaration of Independence,”
Important contribution to the world of diamond jewellery
Shmuel Schnitzer, chairman of the IDI board, added: “I am amazed at the originality and creativity of the designers and how they have been able to weave their personal histories into their designs. I am convinced that Israeli design can make an important contribution to the world of diamond jewellery.”
First prize was awarded to a ‘Tree of Life’ ring made of blackened gold, set with 60 diamonds, and featuring motifs from the Kabbalah, designed by student of mysticism, Shaoul-Aharon Elisha.
Second prize went to a pair of ‘Heart Earrings’, made of white gold, with white and black diamonds, and featuring an olive branch and heart-shapes, designed by Orly Eizenman, an insurance agent and poet, with Drorit Vaserberger, an artist and diver.
Third prize was given to an ‘Eternal Light’ Ring, made up of moving parts, of white and yellow gold, with white and coloured diamonds. Yaniv Shapiro, a 10th-generation Israeli and Shenkar jewellery design graduate, created the ring to exemplify the past, present and future of Israel with symbols of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the Star of David and ancient Hebrew script.
The ‘Sixty Diamonds and Many More’ exhibition at The Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in the Israel Diamond Complex, Ramat Gan closes at the end of December 2009.
