Traditionally, jewellery art in Holland was a craft that took its importance from, among other things, the many national costumes and the jewellery that went with them. Apart from its function as ornament it also conveyed meaning: jewellery worn during mourning or on the occasion of birth, marriage or other special events. When the traditional costumes disappeared from the scene, the craft of jewellery making lost some of its importance, but the know-how remained and increasingly the craft developed into a form of art. These days, jewellery art, as a lesser-known branch of the plastic arts, is often regarded as a separate group within the world of design. In the past ten years, jewellery art which combines autonomous artistic skill, design, craftsmanship and innovation, has undergone a rapid development, in the same way as happened, earlier but at a much slower pace, with fashion. There is an increasing number of artists in this field, Holland has some good professional training schools, in Amsterdam a jewellery quarter is in the making and this country has a growing number of internationally known jewellery artists. For a large part the credit for this development may go to SIERAAD Art Fair which will celebrate its tenth edition in the Gashouder on the Westergasterrein in Amsterdam this coming November. Apart from a fair for professionally trained artists, the international event is also a platform, a meeting place for collectors, wearers, aficionados, observers, curators and, especially, enterprising artists. Without SIERAAD Art Fair Dutch professional jewellery artists would have less turnover, less exposure, less market, less recognition, and Holland would not take up a prominent position and have a far less appealing potential than is the case at the moment. Jewellery artists and designers abroad have not failed to notice this development and they too regard SIERAAD as the international presentation platform, where contacts are made directly with their target group and where direct sales are made, all of which contributes to their independent entrepreneurship. SIERAAD ART FAIR 13th edition 6 through 9 November 2014, Westergasfabriek Amsterdam What a try-out, ten years ago, may lead to! From an indoor tennis court in Enschede with 20 wary participants to the Gashouder of the WesterGasfabriek which last year totalled 97 stands with over 190 participating jewellery designers! They came not only from Holland, but also from Germany, Spain, France, England, Korea, Japan, Israel, Greece, Canada and Finland. As stated before, all of them professionally trained artists who use SIERAAD ART FAIR as their annual presentation platform to expand their network and to sell their unique objects to a public that is interested in modern jewellery art. It is precisely these unique and ‘auteurssieraden’ which contribute to the further development in which jewellery art is seen as a fully-fledged part of modern art. It is not just consumers, but also curators of museums and collectors that find their way to SIERAAD ART FAIR. SIERAAD Art Fair is organized by: EMB&B Art Events Contact details Astrid Berens & Maarten Bodt the Netherlands Tel: 0031 (0)33 433 7009 Email: info [at] sieraadartfair.com