Month: July 2026

Holding Memory: An Interview with Gabriella Botelho

We sat down with Gabriella Botelho, a New York City–based jewelry designer and 2026–2027 One for the Future honoree, whose practice bridges traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design. With a B.F.A. in Jewelry from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), she brings hands-on bench experience alongside digital CAD tools. Her work explores material, form, and cultural influence through a refined and evolving design language. Since graduating, she has worked with established jewelry brands as a designer, continuing to expand her approach through new techniques, materials, and collaborative processes.

The Story Behind the Work

NYCJW: To kick things off, what would you say is the story behind your work?

GB: My work explores jewelry as an emotional object that holds identity and meaning beyond its material value. I approach design through both traditional craftsmanship and contemporary processes, allowing me to move fluidly between hand-making and digital development. Whether I’m working with precious materials or experimenting with form, I’m always thinking about how a piece will live with someone and how it might hold significance far beyond its initial creation.

Work on Hold, Ideas in Progress

NYCJW: Is there something you’ve been interested in making but haven’t gotten around to yet?

GB: I’ve been drawn to the idea of painting jewelry the way historical portraiture paintings do. I imagine zooming in on a single piece, like an earring or clasp, and rendering it in oil paint with the same care and attention given to classical bust portraits. It’s a shift from gouache jewelry hand rendering into something more personal on the body. I think I wasn’t ready for it because it requires time away from jewelry design and making. It’s something I’d like to return to when I can give it that level of focus.

Rethinking Scale and Meaning

NYCJW: If your work didn’t exist as jewelry at all, what other form do you think it would naturally take

GB: If my work moved into another medium, it would become furniture. I grew up surrounded by architecture through my parents’ practice, and I’ve always been drawn to the way larger forms exist in space and interact with people. Jewelry and furniture both interact with people and the human form. Woodworking, in particular, feels like a natural extension of jewelry-making because there’s still precision, structure, and an attention to detail, just on a different scale. Growing up around architect parents, I would tour many homes and buildings, and I often found myself most captivated by a beautiful chair or dresser in these beautifully designed homes. Those moments spark ideas about how I might translate my design language into larger forms.

NYCJW: Is there something people often assume about jewelry that you don’t really agree with?

GB: I think there’s a tendency to reduce jewelry to fashion or surface-level adornment, when in reality it serves a much deeper purpose. Jewelry often carries emotional weight, representing love, memory, identity, or loss. Whether it’s a gift between people, a cultural object, or something worn daily, it is personal, and its meaning goes far beyond aesthetics. For me, the sentimental value of a piece will always outweigh the value of the materials. A simple object can tell a story and hold history, and that’s what makes jewelry powerful.

Creative Doubt, Perspective, and Designing for Character

NYCJW: Can you think of a recent moment where you felt unsure about your creative direction?

GB: One of the most challenging moments of creative doubt came when I began designing within the structure of a brand. It forced me to rethink how I approach creativity, not just personal expression, but as something that has to resonate with others. Designing for yourself allows complete freedom, but designing for a brand requires listening, observing, and understanding what people are drawn to. This ultimately expanded my perspective and creative bubble. I learned how to balance innovation with consistency, and how to create work that feels new while still staying true to a brand’s core identity.

NYCJW: If you could design something for a real or fictional figure, who comes to mind?

GB: I’ve never thought about designing for a fictional or historical figure. I would maybe design a piece for Princess Diana. There was a quiet strength and emotional depth to her presence, and I would want to create something that reflects both her softness and resilience. I imagine a piece that feels intimate rather than overtly regal, that reveals complexity the longer you look at it. It wouldn’t be about grandeur, but about humanity.

Exploring Stones and Transparency

NYCJW: Is there something unusual you’re currently really interested in—like a material or technique—that you keep coming back to?

GB: Right now, I’m really interested in playing with layering stones. Setting one within or beneath another so that they interact through transparency, color, and light. I’m drawn to the contrast between opaque and translucent materials, and how different cuts can coexist. I would love to play more with the relationships between gemstones.

Jewelry as Memory and Connection

NYCJW: When someone wears or interacts with your work, how do you hope it lands with them emotionally or personally?

GB: I want people to connect with something personal when they engage with my work. Jewelry has the ability to hold memory in a very intimate way. I think about that through my own experience, like wearing my West Indian bayras every day. These gold bangles represent a blend of African, Indian, and South American traditions rooted in Caribbean tradition. For me, they represent heritage and identity. I hope my work gives people permission to value that kind of connection, to see jewelry not just as something to wear but as something to feel.

Letting Work Speak for Itself

NYCJW: Is there a question you wish people asked you more often about your work?

GB: I hope people don’t feel the need to ask questions about my work, because I want them to connect with it through their own personal and emotional perspectives. I see jewelry similar to other forms of art, which are open to interpretation. You don’t need a technical explanation to connect with a piece. What you see, feel, or associate with it is valid, and often more meaningful than a prescribed narrative.

Heritage, Material, and Continuous Exploration

NYCJW: Are there themes or ideas that keep showing up in your work, even if you’re not consciously trying to repeat them?

GB: A recurring theme in my work is my cultural heritage. I’m deeply influenced by how my environment has shaped me, and I try to capture that through objects that evoke memory and nostalgia. I’m also driven by exploring new materials and techniques through design, CAD, bench work, or stone. This keeps my work evolving and my mind learning.

About One for the Future (OFTF)
One for the Future celebrates the next generation of jewelry and creative industry professionals. Each year, the program recognizes honorees for their innovation, craftsmanship, and/or unique perspectives and connects them with mentorship, exposure, and opportunities to engage with collectors and industry leaders worldwide.

Enjoyed this piece? Explore more jewelry content from Future Heirloom!

In Conversation with Xiaoyu Li: Material Memory, Craft, and Geocultural Form

Xiaoyu Li is a contemporary jewellery artist and maker based in London, specialising in stone carving and gold- and silver-inlay. A 2026–2027 One for the Future Honoree, her practice explores how material and technique carry geocultural specificity, treating jewellery as a site where cultural narratives and hybrid identities take form.

With a background in painting and over nine years of jewelry-making experience across China and the UK, Li completed her MA in Jewellery & Metal at the Royal College of Art. She has exhibited her work internationally, including at London Craft Week, Munich Jewellery Week, and London Fashion Week, and has received multiple GC&DC Gold Awards as well as the 2026 Gem-A Award.

We had some questions to ask her about her practice, process, and the ideas shaping her work today.

Practice and Material Origins

NYCJW: To start, how would you describe the story of your work and your practice?

XL: I’m currently based in London, working with stone and metal inlay. My practice spans contemporary art jewellery and craft, and engages with ideas of land as well as more personal narratives. I’m particularly interested in traditional techniques and the stories behind them. It reveals how materials are shaped by the land, as well as what has taken place within it.

Shifting Scale and Practice

NYCJW: Following on from that, is there anything you’ve worked on or thought about that you’ve decided to pause or set aside for now?

XL: I haven’t abandoned a project, but postponed a direction I’ve been interested in, moving my practice from jewellery into sculpture. I began to consider how stone carving might operate at a larger scale, shifting from an intimate relationship with the body towards a more spatial one. I’ve always seen jewellery as a form of small-scale sculpture, so this felt like a natural extension. However, I realised that scale alone wasn’t enough. I hadn’t yet resolved how these traditional crafts could function in a spatial context without losing their conceptual and material integrity.

Returning to Painting as a Parallel Practice

NYCJW: I’m also curious—if your work could exist in a completely different medium, like film, architecture, music, painting, or something else entirely, where do you think it might go?

XL: Painting is a direction I would return to. I trained in painting from a young age, and for many years it was my primary way of engaging with art. During my BA, I moved away from image-based expression towards contemporary art jewellery. That distance has stayed with me, and returning to painting would open up a different way of working. Approaching a familiar medium from a new position could bring a different sensitivity, letting me to engage more directly with the visual, gesture, and thought.

An Open Approach to the Field

NYCJW: Within the field, are there any ideas or assumptions you find yourself gently questioning, or maybe just not fully subscribing to?

XL: I wouldn’t frame it as a disagreement. I’ve always taken an open attitude within the field. Contemporary art jewellery is still a very young discipline, and I’m always looking for different voices to emerge.

Material Memory and Working Through Doubt

NYCJW: Thinking about your process more personally, can you remember a recent moment of real creative doubt?

XL: Last year marked a turning point in my practice, when I began to question how the work could continue to develop without becoming too resolved in its form. In those moments of uncertainty, I return to history. I think of jewellery as a medium that writes history through its materials and techniques. Museums become an important place of reference. I spent time studying the jewellery collection and archives at the V&A, looking at how materials have been used and understood across different periods. I also draw on research into ancient Chinese jade carving. Many of these forms and techniques are no longer practiced, but they carry a way of understanding where the craft comes from. This doesn’t resolve the doubt directly, but allows me to reposition the work within a longer continuum and keep moving.

NYCJW: Right now, is there any unusual material, object, text, or source of inspiration that draws you in? And how is that starting to show up in your work?

XL: Stone has always been at the core of my practice. By working with stone and examining its cultural histories, I explore how land shapes individual experience and how craft can embody forms of collective memory. This is embedded in the work through the act of carving stone itself. Rather than imposing a fixed form, I respond to the inherent qualities of the stone, allowing its character to emerge through the process. In this sense, each piece is unique.

Craft, Land, and Reflection

NYCJW: Stepping back a bit, when someone experiences your work, how do you hope it makes them feel?

XL: I hope my work allows people to form a connection with the land. My practice involves moving across different places, learning local crafts, and working directly with materials in their place of origin. Through this, I see craft as a way of reading history, shaped by specific cultural and geographical conditions. I hope the work offers a space for reflection, not only on where the craft comes from, but also on where we come from. I’d like viewers to consider their own cultural roots, how identity is formed and continues to shift over time.

Reactivating Traditional Techniques Through Inlay

NYCJW: What question do you wish people would ask you more often about your practice?

XL: I wish more people would ask about the techniques used in my work and the stories behind them. One of the techniques I use in my work is gold- and silver-inlay on stone. Gold and silver inlay on stone is a historically rich craft shaped through centuries of cultural exchange. The earliest known examples date to the 12th century in eastern Iran, before the technique developed across Timurid Central Asia and Mughal India. Similar approaches later appeared in Chinese jade carving, where they were reinterpreted within local traditions through cross-cultural exchange.

In my work, gold and silver inlay become a way of engaging with the stone. Rather than following its traditional decorative logic, I emphasise the natural markings of the stone. VESSEL brings the gold and silver inlay on stone into a contemporary jewellery context, while remaining rooted in traditional making methods. The process begins by carving fine grooves into the stone, which are then undercut to create a mechanical lock for the precious metal. Where needed, small drilled recesses can be added to strengthen the connection. Gold or silver is gradually pressed into these prepared channels, securing the inlay without the use of adhesives or soldering. The technique demands exceptional precision, as every cut must be carefully controlled to hold the metal while preserving the strength of the stone. It also places strict demands on material selection, requiring high-hardness, tough stones and highly malleable metals. For this reason, only fine silver and 24-carat gold are suitable, as they can be worked into the stone without compromising its integrity.

Returning Motifs and Early Material Memory

NYCJW: I’m curious if there’s a recurring theme, idea, or even emotion in your work that keeps showing up, sometimes quite subtly. Why do you think it keeps coming back?

XL: My work consistently reflects my personal experience, particularly through the objects that shaped my early years. My use of Xiuyan jade goes back to the first piece of jewellery I owned, a jade bracelet made from this material, which continues to inform my focus on stone carving. This extends to projects such as my work on traditional Chinese kite-making. Kite flying was part of my childhood and later became a way of engaging with a craft that is gradually disappearing. I travelled to learn the technique locally and worked with makers to adapt it into a wearable context in response to the decline of the local kite-making industry. These references keep returning because they are closely tied to how I understand making and to the origins of my relationship with material.

About One for the Future (OFTF)
One for the Future celebrates the next generation of jewelry and creative industry professionals. Each year, the program recognizes honorees for their innovation, craftsmanship, and/or unique perspectives and connects them with mentorship, exposure, and opportunities to engage with collectors and industry leaders worldwide.

Enjoyed this piece? Explore more jewelry content from Future Heirloom!

On Vulnerability, Material, and the Language of Jewelry

A 2026–2027 One for the Future honoree, Alice Biolo is an Italian artist based in Glasgow whose practice moves between jewelry and sculpture, where body-related objects become sites for storytelling, transformation, and concealment. Working across wearable and standalone forms, she blends traditional craftsmanship with experimental, often kinetic approaches, creating pieces that reveal themselves only through interaction.

In this conversation, she reflects on the shifting boundaries of jewelry, the presence of doubt within her process, and the recurring role of the “hidden” as both a conceptual and formal thread. She also speaks about material obsessions, unrealised ideas, and the ways her practice continues to oscillate between vulnerability, structure, and play.

Between Narrative and Mechanism

NYCJW: To begin, could you introduce your practice and share the story behind your work?

AB: My practice has two distinct but connected sides that are in constant dialogue with one another. The first is my conceptual, narrative-led work, where I mainly create brooches for exhibitions and themed showcases. These pieces explore themes such as mental health, personal narratives, trauma, grief, and insecurity. They are deeply personal works through which I express my inner world and aim to create an emotional connection with the audience. The second side is more light-hearted and wearable, with a stronger focus on technical challenges, materials, movement, and sound rather than direct narrative.

I enjoy creating pieces that surprise the wearer and viewer through kinetic elements and unexpected interactions. Although different in approach, both sides continually influence each other. Ideas often move between them, whether conceptually or technically. My exploration of hidden mechanisms, for example, began in a conceptual piece and later developed into wearable collections, before returning again in later conceptual work. Material exploration is central to everything I do. I enjoy working with both precious and non-precious materials, from silver and gold to stainless steel, found objects such as broken watch parts and letterpress type. Gemstones have also become an increasingly important part of my practice.

Ideas in Suspension

NYCJW: Within that practice, are there ideas or projects you’ve set aside for now? What makes you feel they’re not ready to be realised yet?

AB: I would rather not name one specific shelved project, as once I say it out loud, it feels as though I should immediately commit to making it. There is, however, one idea that has been at the back of my mind since 2024. I have been quietly developing it through mental sketches and fragments of design, but I have not yet fully committed it to paper. I trust that when the time is right, it will come to life. Beyond that, there are probably hundreds of designs I have shelved unconsciously, not because I was not ready for them, but because they were sketched in unusual places and then forgotten. Many live in scattered sketchbooks or phone notes until I rediscover them later. Those moments are always a pleasant surprise, and sometimes a forgotten idea becomes the very next piece I make at the bench.

Between Object and Narrative

NYCJW: Looking beyond your current medium, if your work could exist elsewhere, such as in film, architecture, or writing, what form do you think it would take, and why?

AB: I think my work would exist somewhere between visual art and writing. Many of my pieces are created as standalone objects first and wearable jewelry second. I see my brooches as small sculptures that can exist independently in space, but whose meaning and presence shift once they are worn. When placed on the body, the experience changes: parts of the design may become hidden from the viewer, or kinetic elements begin to move, allowing the object to feel animated and alive. Writing also feels closely connected to my practice. I have written texts and poems to accompany some of my conceptual works, and narrative is central to much of what I create. Whether through written words, spoken explanation, or the object itself, I am often telling a story.

Against Fixed Categories

NYCJW: Are there any conventions or assumptions in the field that you find yourself questioning or resisting?

AB: One convention I quietly disagree with is the need to place jewelry, particularly art jewelry, into a single, clearly defined category. It often occupies an unusual space: not always fully embraced by the fine art world, yet also misunderstood within traditional jewelry contexts, where value may be judged primarily through wearability, craftsmanship, or precious materials. Because of this, many makers can find it difficult to position their work. Pieces may be dismissed as “just jewelry,” rather than recognised as objects capable of carrying conceptual, emotional, or cultural weight.

At the same time, they may challenge conventional expectations of what jewelry should be. I believe art jewelry can exist across multiple disciplines at once: craft, design, sculpture, performance, and visual art. It does not need to fit neatly under one label to be meaningful. I think people should be a little less judgmental and a bit more open-minded when approaching the field. Sometimes the most unexpected piece, made from humble or unconventional materials, can create the strongest emotional connection. A rubber chain necklace, for example, might move someone far more deeply than a diamond ever could.

Working Through Uncertainty

NYCJW: How do you experience creative doubt in your practice, and can you recall a recent moment where you had to work through it?

AB: I think I experience creative doubt almost daily. I can become very excited by a new idea, completely absorbed in it, and convinced I am making my strongest work so far. I will spend hours immersed in the process, only to finish the piece and immediately begin questioning it. Will a gallery or client respond to it? Do I even like it myself? I know I can sometimes look outward for validation, and I am learning to trust my own instincts more. What helps me most is to keep making rather than overthinking.

Doubt can be uncomfortable, but creative paralysis is far more limiting. Continuing to work, even while uncertain, is usually the best way through it. At the same time, I do not think doubt is entirely negative. A certain level of questioning can push you to refine your ideas, notice imperfections, and keep raising your standards. Perfection is impossible, but that leaves room for growth. I try to see insecurity not only as a challenge, but also as something that can motivate me to keep improving.

For Lilith: An Heirloom of Autonomy

NYCJW: If you could create a work for a fictional character or historical figure, who would it be, and what would that piece look or feel like?

AB: I think it would be for Lilith, the first wife of Adam in some traditions, who was created equally from the earth and chose to leave the Garden of Eden rather than be subservient. To me, she represents autonomy, independence, and the strength to reject imposed roles. Although she has often been portrayed as a demon, I see her more as a misunderstood figure shaped by patriarchal narratives. I would create a brooch for her, as it is my favourite medium within jewelry. Rather than designing it from assumptions, I would want to ask her about her deepest secret or something she holds closest to her heart. From that conversation, I would create an heirloom, something intimate, protective, and powerful, carrying both vulnerability and strength.

Material Obsession: Niello

NYCJW: Are there materials, objects, or unexpected sources of inspiration you’re particularly drawn to at the moment?

AB: I have been quite obsessed with niello recently. Niello is a traditional metal alloy, typically made from silver, copper, lead, and sulphur, which creates a rich black or bluish-black surface when applied to metal. I am drawn to both its visual depth and its distinctive texture. I only experimented with it briefly during my time in high school, but over the past few years, I have felt increasingly compelled to return to it and properly learn the process. I am currently planning a trip to visit Gigi Mariani, one of my favourite artists working with niello, and to see his workshop. As for how it will enter my work, I think I need to spend time with the material first. I like to understand a process through making before deciding how it should be used conceptually or formally within my practice.

Permission to Feel

NYCJW: When someone encounters your work, how do you hope it affects them?

AB: I hope people feel invited to share with me what they feel, just as I am sharing something of myself through the work. That exchange has happened a few times during exhibitions, when visitors have come to speak with me and share something deeply personal after hearing the story behind a piece. Those moments affect me profoundly, and at times have moved me to tears. That is, in many ways, the purpose of my conceptual practice. I make work that asks me to be vulnerable, in the hope of opening conversations around subjects people often find difficult to discuss. When someone recognises themselves in a piece and feels able to respond honestly, the work has done what it was meant to do. More than anything, I hope it gives people permission to feel openly, to be sad, joyful, uncertain, reflective, to feel heard, and to feel understood.

On Familiarity and the Brooch

NYCJW: Is there a question about your work that you wish people would ask more often?

AB: I am not entirely sure what question I wish people would ask more often, but I do know the one I could happily hear less: “What are those?” usually while pointing at my brooches. Since brooches fell out of everyday fashion for a time, many people are simply unfamiliar with them as a form of jewelry. They are less commonly seen now than they once were, aside from badges or pins, so for some people the idea of a brooch feels almost unfamiliar. That said, I do think they are beginning to return, and it is exciting to see growing interest in them again. Brooches have so much potential: they can be sculptural, expressive, personal, and worn in countless ways. I look forward to the day when they feel familiar again and no longer need explaining.

The Poetics of the Hidden

NYCJW: More broadly, are there recurring themes or emotions that continue to surface in your practice? Why do you think they return?

AB: The idea of “hidden” is definitely the most recurring theme in my work, both in my conceptual and wearable pieces. I am drawn to constructing pieces where elements are soldered, inserted, set, or fixed in ways that are not immediately obvious. Some parts only reveal themselves when the work is held, moved, or looked at closely; in certain cases, they are not visible at all; sometimes they are only for me to know they exist. I think this keeps appearing because I am interested in the tension between visibility and intimacy, and in the idea that not everything in an object needs to be immediately understood or seen to have meaning.

About One for the Future (OFTF)
One for the Future celebrates the next generation of jewelry and creative industry professionals. Each year, the program recognizes honorees for their innovation, craftsmanship, and/or unique perspectives. It also provides them with opportunities for mentorship, exposure, and connections with collectors and industry leaders worldwide.

Enjoyed this piece? Explore more jewelry content from Future Heirloom!