Manuel Vilhena

“The work of Manuel Vilhena brings storytelling to Contemporary Jewellery. Stories told as in days of old which have little to do with the teller and all to do with the listener. Not with words, which may deceive, but with colours, shapes and movement, opening wide the doors of personal meaning. In a land where dreams and visions are still served behind the counter of the small dimly lit shop of personal imagination, each pieces tells a story, each story travels far and returns as a song of what the world really is – A mystery to unfold. A fairground for the delight of the senses, for the warming of the heart and for the appeasing of the curious mind. As such, each jewel is made with the intention of becoming the key to a personal story; interpreted by the wearer, always moving, always transforming itself, and its wearer, as the winds of change breathe new life into each single morning. Following the ancestral Goldsmith’s lineage, Vilhena crafts his pieces into promiscuous attention to detail, jealous care for his tools, and motherly manipulation of materials. All materials become precious as their expressions are revealed as players in a plot. The title of the show invites the viewer for what is to come… and other stories. In today’s world of faster-than-light communications, genetic manipluation and precision orientated goals, it is indeed a luxury to sit back and listen, taste, observe, and take time to get lost into the “not-knowing-what-it-is-and-what-to-do-next”. Luxury, the epitone of jewellery. Or is it the other way round?”

Ozra Kallian PhD , Instanbul, July 2009