The aim of the International Amberif Design Award is the worldwide promotion of amber as a natural material with unique properties. We have held 13 Amberif Design Award international competitions so far and all of them were about jewellery. And yet, in its long tradition of being crafted, which dates back to Neolithic times, the Amber Routes which led to Ancient Rome and later during the baroque period when the most spectacular artefacts were made, all the way to structures which are truly architectural in scale, the Gold of the North was also used as a material to make objets d’art and personal accessories which were not jewellery.
In recent years we have had an explosion of the manufacturing of amber products which are often rather average in terms of style and quality, which has lead to the cheapening of the image of amber itself. We would like to invite the contestants to indulge in critical reflection on the (often superficial) stereotypes which have been perpetuated this way and which we can see in jewellery shop display windows. We extend this invitation not only to amber jewellery makers, goldsmiths and jewellery designs, but also to those working in industrial design, who we hope will come up with innovative ways of using amber, so clearly associated with the Baltic and the Polish cultural heritage, to transcend the stereotype of “a souvenir from the seaside.”
NON-JEWELLERY, the topic of this year’s Amberif Design Award sets down only one caveat on the function of the entries: they must not be jewellery. Besides that, we want to keep the array of associations, interpretations and creative freedom as open as possible. We welcome all kinds of original ideas on how to use Baltic amber as an important structural, functional and/or ornamental element in contemporary objects of everyday use, interior decoration elements and accessories to fit within the capacious definition of “life-style.” We not only allow, but in fact expect amber to be combined with other materials, provided that it retains its leading role in the final visual effect.
We hope that such an experiment will help to develop high quality applied art and discover new ways of using Baltic amber outside jewellery, and that the designers themselves will be able to get familiar with its unique properties and perhaps add it to their own creative interests and activities.
