Abu - Differences Unite Us

Materials: silver, cotton
Dimensions: earrings 5x4.2cm broach 5x4.2cm bracelet 5x7cm

The “abu” collection has born from the actual cutural mix that takes place in Mexico City, from the customs richness, legends and handcrafted pieces from its many towns that harmonically coexist in this great country, in the details that some years before were part of the everyday life and have been slowly forgotten, It is a effort to remember where we came from, our national and personal history.

Photo credit: Maria Solorzano

Maria Solorzano
Buenos Aires, Argentina

The work of design in my proposal is about creating valuable objects that encourage our senses to play and to a reflection based on our feelings, our memories, and our dreams.

The piece must be able to keep us in an inner vibration.

Some of the personal traits of each piece have to be with its dialog, with its function and changes, with the reflections and twists that can be done with it. This search demands to be careful and to submit the materials to a crisis depending on the purpose of the object. In this way, the value of the material will have to be with its possibilities and not with an aspiration to be anything else but itself.

The proposal then is to produce the jewel that transmits itself, that lingers in us, just as part of us is transmitted to the jewel during the process of creation.


Ganoksin hosts the jewelry list Orchid, with over 13,000 list members from all over the world, speaking from a wide range of technical and aesthetic experiences. The exhibition theme grew out of a desire to celebrate the creativity encompassed in this wide variety.

Artists were free to interpret the theme in any way they chose. Each artist could submit up to six pieces. Interpretations include uniting different materials into one cohesive form; intellectual and emotional “unitings”, where the meaning of the piece unites multiple concepts; the uniting of time - past, present and future; and a number that focus on the harmony created when uniting multiple materials and/or concepts.

The work submitted involved a wide range of jewelry techniques, from very traditional to very cutting edge, as well as using materials from traditional precious metals and gemstones to “re-purposed” and “up-cycled” materials.

The exhibition showcases 330 images chosen from entries from over 111 artists representing 26 countries.

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Serbia, Spain, Trinidad, Turkey, UK, USA, Venezuela, and the Virgin Islands

Many of the participants began their interest in jewelry at a young age. Some are relative newcomers to the field, and some have over 35 years of experience as professional jewelers and goldsmiths. While some grew up in families that were goldsmiths, and followed in those footsteps, others only began creating jewelry as adults.