The First Encounter at Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery
The First Encounter at Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery
One of the most compelling exhibitions I visited recently was The First Encounter at Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery. The show opened with an elegant event on 25 February, where Elisabetta Cipriani welcomed distinguished guests, collectors, jewellery experts, and designers, all of whom were deeply impressed by the gallery’s refined set-up, thoughtful displays, and the remarkable uniqueness of the works presented.
Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery is renowned for showcasing exceptional wearable art — pieces that embrace the body while highlighting the individuality and personality of the wearer. With every exhibition, the gallery continues to explore the dialogue between art, design, and adornment.
The First Encounter brought together 35 contemporary artists in a focused exploration of one of the most ancient and immediate gestures of human expression: adornment. The exhibition offered a powerful reflection on the relationship between the body and art, presenting works that transform jewellery into sculpture, identity, and personal statement.
The gallery is available for private viewings and appointments, which can be arranged through the following link.
The First Encounter – Press Release
Earrings are perhaps the most relational form of jewellery. They do not inhabit the body silently or discreetly — they move, reflect light, respond to expression, and participate in conversation. Existing in constant dialogue with the face, the gaze, and the presence of the wearer, they are often the first jewel perceived when meeting someone — a detail that becomes language.
For more than 4,000 years, earrings have traversed cultures and civilizations as symbols of protection, power, identity, and belonging. Positioned close to the eyes and the voice, they occupy a uniquely communicative space between object and expression.
In today’s world — shaped by images, screens, and visual communication — this dimension is amplified. The face has returned to the centre of daily experience, and with it, earrings regain renewed expressive urgency. They are immediate, intimate, and personal — capable of transforming presence through a minimal yet powerful gesture.
The First Encounter assembles 35 contemporary artists and designers who approach the earring not as a simple accessory, but as a wearable micro-sculpture — a site of formal, material, and conceptual experimentation. Each pair becomes a “first encounter”: between artwork and face, artist and viewer, identity and form.
Participating artists include: Adel Abdessemed, Ron Arad, Francesco Arena, Atelier Van Lieshout, Giampaolo Babetto, Carol Bove, Campana Brothers, David Rodriguez Caballero, Faust Cardinali, EC X EC LAB, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Jacqueline De Jong, Ute Decker, Kendell Geers, Ania Guillaume, Massimo Izzo, Fernando Jorge, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Anish Kapoor, Liliane Lijn, Alba Lisca, Gigi Mariani, Michael Craig-Martin, Haroldo Burle Marx, Satta Matturi, John Moore, Ifeany Oganwu, Tania Pistone, Jacqueline Ryan, Elsa Sarantidou, Sissi, Joanne Thomson, Sophia Vari, Line Vautrin, Giorgio Vigna.
About Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery
Founded in London in 2009, Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery invites world-renowned contemporary artists to create innovative, socially relevant wearable art, redekining the boundaries between jewellery and kine art. The gallery has collaborated with over 50 acclaimed painters and sculptors, including Ai Weiwei, Chiharu Shiota, Giulio Paolini, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Enrico Castellani, Erwin Wurm, Giorgio Vigna, Jannis Kounellis, Rebecca Horn, and Pedro Cabrita Reis.
Each project begins with an artist—often new to wearable art—developing ideas through sketches and prototypes, guidedclosely by Elisabetta, before the kinal piece is crafted by the artist or a master goldsmith. These works, representing the artists’ most intimate expressions, are held in major museum and private collections worldwide, including the Musée desArts Décoratifs (Paris), Museum of Art and Design (New York), World Jewellery Museum (Seoul), and The State Hermitage Museum (St Petersburg).
The gallery’s projects have been featured in significant exhibitions such as From Picasso to Koons: The Artist as Jeweller curated by Diane Venet and are presented at leading art and design fairs including Design Miami, Design Basel, TEFAF Maastricht, Artissima, MiArt, PAD London, PAD Monaco, and Salon Art + Design New York.