GEMZ

GEMZ is a talent accelerator programme initiated by Current Obsession (CO) in 2020 to support a new generation of young makers as they develop their voices. The main goals of GEMZ are to foster relationships between young creatives, cultural institutions, and the industry, as well as to build resilient, scalable, and sustainable individual practices or brands. The name of the programme combines the definitions of ‘gem’ and ‘Generation Z’, a generation that offers a novel, multi-faceted perspective on the contemporary jewellery medium.

The third cycle of Current Obsession’s Talent Accelerator Programme, GEMZ, has reached its grand finale!

From a pool of 57 international participants, and following months of lectures and workshops, six emerging talents – Stefan Boerkamp (NL), Ruochong Cheng (CN), Tina Jiao (CN), rae richards (US), Anna Rusínová (CZ) and Zoé Kiner-Wolff (FR) – were selected to develop their projects under the one-to-one guidance of jewellery artists Benedikt Fischer, Irma Földényi and Jing He. Their speculative jewellery collections are, for the first time since the programme began, brought together in a book, GEMZ: WET. 

Pre-sales of the book [here].

Join us for a Book Launch & Exhibition Opening on 14 November at 19:00 at De Kunstfabriek in Rotterdam. RSVP [here].

More information about the exhibition and special programme during OBSESSED! Jewellery Festival 2025 [here].