Curator Dr. Jurgita Ludavičienė
We were able to win Dr. Jurgita Ludavičienė for the selection from the 789 applications for 2025. She selected 62 items from 29 countries for SCHMUCKmünchen 2025.
Dr. Jurgita Ludavičienė studied fashion design and holds a doctorate in art theory and history as well as art criticism. She has worked as editor-in-chief and curator of numerous international exhibitions of contemporary art, jewellery and applied arts. She worked for several years as an expert at the Lithuanian Council for Culture and is a member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association and AICA (International Association of Art Critics). Since 2014 she has been working as a lecturer at Vilnius Art Academy, and since 2021 she has been the chief curator for exhibitions at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, e.g. the “Metallophone” biennial.
Winners of the Herbert-Hofmann-Prize 2025
Nikita Kavryzhkin, Russia
The Russian artist lives in Idar-Oberstein, one of the centers for gemstone design. With his “Sheep in a Box” brooch, he recalls the story of the Little Prince, who looks at the world through the eyes of a child. His work, cut from Cachalong stone, is an invitation to see what is hidden. The white box, which is worn on the jacket, can be filled by each wearer and also by the viewer according to their own ideas. These personal secrets are precious. And the brooch is also a reminder that we should never allow our freedom of thought to be restricted or taken away.
Eija Mustonen, Finland
The Finnish artist loves the grand gesture. The copper elements are joined together to form a chain that acts like a protective charm. It combines the conceptual idea of an amulet with the physical size of the individual plates. She uses a hammer and anvil to three-dimensionally shape the copper elements. The signal red is created in a chemical dyeing process and radiates a warmth in the chosen colour that does not repel the viewer. The wearer’s movements are accompanied by the metallic sound and emphasize the striking appearance.
Jounghye Park, South Korea
In her work, the Korean artist takes a critical look at the issue of the mass use of clothing, industrial production and environmental destruction. She gives them value through their devoted layering and landscape-like modeling and their use as brooches. Her appeal goes out to all of us that we can also create value from waste through creativity and craftsmanship. In her narrative work, she exhorts us to save ourselves in the search for beauty.
Winner of the Bavarian State Prize 2025
Bussi Buhs, Germany
Jewelry works from the entire creative period
Bussi Buhs is honored for her life’s work. As an artist, she found her expression in jewellery and plays tirelessly with colours and shapes. Her material is plastic, which she analyzed in depth and tested for its suitability in art as part of a postgraduate degree in chemistry in addition to her art studies. Her wealth of forms comes from the immediate surroundings of everyday life, which she collages and alienates. During her many years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, she shared her research findings with generations of artists-to-be.
