CLUSTER JEWELLERY SHOP

JOURNAL

THE EXHIBITORS

All those who have experienced it agrees: the creative energy in London, UK is unparalleled. It's why the Cluster Artist in Residence Programme offers selected artists the space and the facilities to focus on their practice in this city, offering participants the chance to soak up the atmosphere of its storied streets whilst having the facilities and mentorship to bring their practice to a higher level, to produce a life-changing experience that will kickstart a lively creative career. 

Evincing London's vibrancy are its galleries and creative spaces, each one bringing a unique perspective to the scene. One such gallery is Gallery S O, a commercial art gallery that champions contemporary jewellery similarly to the way in which other galleries champion contemporary art. Many types of crafts are celebrated throughout the UK capital, but the art of jewellery-making reaches another height altogether. It’s no wonder, with the likes of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum showing an impressive array of historical examples of adornment from England and beyond. And it accounts for the successes of gallery spaces such as Gallery S O, situated in lively Brick Lane of East London since 2006.

Founded by Felix Flury who himself has a background in jewellery design, Gallery S O in London is the second gallery Felix established. The first was founded in 2003 in Solothurn, Switzerland, where he grew up. Having previously studied in London at the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, now the Metropolitan University in Silversmithing and subsequently at the Royal College of Arts with an MA in Metalwork and Jewellery, London was a significant part of his biography. The decision to open a second location in London, then, solidified his already strong link to London. When asked how the two locations differ in terms of audience, Felix says, “In London, the applied arts community is much stronger.”

It parallels the reasons that made London the perfect home for Cluster Fairs. The city's creative energy amplifies the goal of promoting the talent found within applied arts whilst highlighting its long and celebrated history in crafts. From the Arts and Crafts movement of the post-industrial era to the present-day craft economy that supports independent makers, London’s roots are deep within the evolution of craft. In this setting, Gallery S O finds a home worthy of its subjects.

Felix takes pleasure in understanding the techniques behind how a piece of jewellery is made, the craftsmanship and story behind its creation culminating into an art object that offers so much more than its function of adornment. He explains that for his clients, becoming aware of the small specificities in intention or process can add immense value to the pieces. He admires artworks and the artists behind them for their originality and clarity in intent and favours contemporary works that have an element of subversion, deviating from more traditional forms of the craft that dwell on history or heritage. The artists in his portfolio emanate this, producing art objects that are at once recognisable as jewellery and yet reveal themselves as something beyond jewellery as we know it.

When asked about how he reconciles with the differentiation between contemporary art and contemporary art jewellery, he says, “This is a long and ongoing debate, I know, but to me it is not relevant anymore. What I really enjoy and what interests me is how people always needed to create objects in materialising surrogates and cultivating those representatives with significance. To investigate this notion is key to my work.”

This investigation of ontology is at the heart of the gallery itself, where S stands for Schmuck (Jewellery) and O for Object. “Objects (and I consider jewellery also to be objects) mirror our thoughts, desire, value, pain, joy... and vanity.”

Beyond the philosophical aspects of Felix’s work, his focus is on the curation behind each exhibition that could speak to audiences and artists alike. “The work I appreciate the most as a gallerist is to plan and come up with an idea on how we can present the works in the best and most coherent way so that the audience or even the artists themselves find new aspects and links within the works.”

With more than 130 exhibitions completed in his less than two decades as a gallerist, he finds new and interesting ways to present his artists’ work, unconcerned about trends and instead providing a strong voice independent of the shifting interests of the industry. By doing so, he has cemented a place for art jewellery in the UK capital, unfazed by the sea of voices competing for attention within the contemporary art world and continuing to put out new exhibitions.
“Each one is unique, but I guess the next exhibition is always the favorite one,” he says when asked to name his top exhibition. “I loved them all.”