Curator Sam Tho Duong
This year, we received 1,046 applications from 68 countries. Sam Tho Dung selected 69 entries from 30 countries.
Born in Vietnam and based in Pforzheim, Sam Tho Duong is one of the most influential voices in contemporary jewellery. With his experimental eye, he transforms natural finds and everyday materials into poetic, precisely designed works.
With international exhibitions, major prizes such as the Friedrich Becker Prize and the Herbert-Hofmann-Prize as well as works in museums such as the V&A London or MAD New York, Duong brings expertise and sensitivity to his role as curator of SCHMUCKmünchen 2026.
Find out more about the curator and his selection for SCHMUCKmünchen 2026 in a YouTube interview with Internationale Handwerksmesse.
Winners of the Herbert-Hofmann-Prize 2026
Ela Bauer, Netherlands
The artist, born in Poland and based in the Netherlands, works with resin. The combination of organic and inorganic material results in structures that reveal their full effect when worn on the body. The fine craftsmanship offers glimpses into an apparently closed form supported by a disc. The subtly balanced interplay of colors extends into the three-dimensional.
Mira Kim, South Korea
The Korean artist impressed the jury with the high artistic quality of her work. She explores new approaches, as the Mokume-gane technique is traditionally used in a highly structured manner. In her delicate ring, differently colored metal alloys swirl into structural ornaments, overlaid with engraved patterns created using the almost forgotten guilloché technique.
Zhipeng Wang, China
The Chinese artist tells a new story of universal relevance. Jade and gold are materials charged with deep cultural significance. He describes the reinterpretation of the conventional market-driven treatment of these raw materials and the artificiality of their prices. Precious gold is embedded in supposedly worthless jade waste. A new artistic and aesthetic value emerges.
Winner of the Bavarian State Prize 2026
Zixin Wei, China
Unbearable Lightness
The young artist from Beijing discovers a surprisingly delicate language in jade. From leftover fragments, she shapes fragile formations of slender lines that evoke cyclical movements. A red thread, traditionally associated with good fortune, accompanies the piece of jewelry and alludes to luck as something fragile that requires mindfulness. In this way, the artist transforms remaining fragments into a poetic ritual object, drawing on the Daoist concept of the power of lightness.
Modern classics
During the special exhibition, we will be presenting the artistic position of a modern classic. At SCHMUCKmünchen 2026, the life’s work of artist Erico Nagai will be honoured.
Erico Nagai, born in Tokyo, came to jewellery via painting. After studying briefly in Basel, she transferred to the Munich Academy of Fine Arts in 1968, where she initially studied painting and soon joined Franz Rickert’s and later Hermann Jünger’s jewellery classes. There she developed an unmistakable design language that combines Japanese tradition and European modernity.
Her works are characterised by reduced geometry, inspiration from nature and a masterful combination of materials such as gold, silver, copper, in techniques with urushi lacquer, enamel.
For Nagai, jewellery is never isolated – her stagings, such as the legendary installation at the Lenbachhaus in 1979, turned presentation itself into an artistic statement and opened up a dialogue between cultures.
She was awarded the Bavarian State Prize and the Herbert-Hofmann-Prize in 1976 and the Design Prize of the City of Munich in 2005. International exhibitions, works in museums and her diverse teaching activities in Germany, Austria and Japan underline her importance.
Nagai experimented with classical and Japanese goldsmithing techniques, transferred painterly principles to metal and created objects of timeless elegance. Her work is thus a significant contribution to the jewellery design of the 20. and 21st century that wants to be seen, admired and worn.
