Through the centuries people have worn jewellery to depict¹ status, wealth and identity.Now there is another reason.

自古以来，人们佩戴首饰是为了显示地位、财富和身份。

Contemporary jewellery, the kind that is fought over by passionate² collectors, focuses as much on intellectual inquiry³ and the telling of stories as it does on the exploration of materials and techniques.

现在，佩戴首饰又有了别的涵义。热忱的收藏家对当代首饰的看法也不一样。当代首饰在探求材料和工艺的同时，也关注着文化内涵和叙事性。

To the cognoscenti, contemporary jewellery is wearable sculpture, and the wearability of a piece and the way it moves on the body are of critical importance to the artists who create it.

对于鉴赏家来说，当代首饰是可以佩戴的艺术品。它对于创作首饰的艺术家来说，首饰的耐用性，和怎么佩戴都是至关重要的。它集创作者的思想、热情和工艺于一体，尤其以思想至上。

This work is a product of head, heart and hand, with the head element uppermost.Pieces can be made of anything: found objects, recycled junk, textiles, plastic-even paper.

任何东西都可以用来制作当代首饰：像锻造品、回收的废旧杂物、纺织品、塑料等等，甚至报纸也行。

If they include precious metals and gemstones, these rarely appear in conventional forms.Collectors are mainly professionals.

如果是含有贵金属和宝石的东西，它们则很少以传统造型亮相。收藏家主要是一些专业人士。

A significant proportion are architects and many of them are men.Humour and subversion⁵ are an intrinsic element of this kind of jewellery, which may explain why one European country, the Netherlands, has become a beacon⁶ for collectors.

设计师占了很大的比例，其中以男性为主。幽默和颠覆性是此类首饰的本质内涵。这也许能解释为什么荷兰这个欧洲国家会成为收藏家的指路明灯。

As Marjan Unger, a Dutch art historian and jewellery curator, explains it, the Dutch“like to turn things upside down”.

因为这正像荷兰艺术历史学家和首饰馆长Marjan Unger所说的，荷兰人“喜欢混淆黑白”。

They possess a fierce merchant mentality⁷, but do not like to display their wealth, preferring instead to show off their intellectual power.

他们虽具敏锐的商业头脑，却不喜欢显露财富，更愿意表现才智。

The Netherlands boasts some fine jewellery schools, but, other than diamond-cutting, there is little historical tradition in jewellery making.Dutch designers have not had to fight entrenched⁸ conventions, and as a result they have been remarkably⁹ free to experiment.

虽然荷兰拥有一批引以为豪的高级首饰学校，但是在首饰制作（不包括钻石切割）上几乎没有什么历史传统。这样，荷兰的设计师就不必受制于传统，因此他们可以自由地去尝试。

“Collect”, an international fair for contemporary objects, which opens in London will show a number of artists who explore concepts of preciousness, value and beauty by subverting¹⁰ traditional materials and techniques.

“收藏展”将在伦敦举行。它是一个当代首饰作品的国际展览会，届时将有很多来自德国、瑞士、英国和荷兰的艺术家参展。

Some are German, Swiss and British, as well as Dutch.Otto Künzli famously made a rubber bracelet¹¹ concealing¹² a gold ball inside.

通过颠覆传统的材料和技巧，他们将探究名贵、价值和美感这些概念。Otto Künzli因制作了内部藏有金球的橡胶手镯而出名。

Karl Fritsch ground gemstones into powder and reassembled them with glue.He is now experimenting with drilling holes in the gems⁴ and knotting them together in varying configurations¹³.

Karl Fritsch将宝石磨成粉末，然后用胶水粘结。他现在正尝试着在宝石上钻孔，然后扣接成不同的造型。

Gijs Bakker, co-founder of Droog, a design company, combines gemstones with costume pieces.Ulrich Reithofer combines gold and glass shards¹⁴ in a necklace.Using unconventional materials is another way of questioning“value”.

Droog设计公司的合伙人Gijs Bakker，将宝石镶到了服装上。Ulrich Reithofer用黄金和玻璃碎片制作了一条项链。探究“价值”的另一个途径就是使用非传统材料。

Dorothea Prühl uses wood to create huge neckpieces.Christoph Zellweger covers animal bones with flesh-coloured flock.

Dorothea Prühl用木材做了许多硕大无比的项链挂件。Christoph Zellweger用肉色毛绒包裹动物骨头。

Lisa Walker assembles three-dimensional collages¹⁵ using found plastic pieces and assembles them into wearable sculpture.

Lisa Walker用塑料片组装成三维的拼贴画，并将此制成可以佩戴的雕塑品。

Sebastian Buescher pins together eclectic combinations of materials he gathers outdoors.Story-telling is another key element.Sebastian Buescher

将他在户外收集的各式各样的材料连接在一起。叙事性是另一个重要的内涵。

The narratives¹⁶ vary from the personal to the collective, but individual memories are often used to tap into universal themes.

从个人到集体，叙事对象各不相同，但是个人的回忆经常用来创作大众性的主题。

The domestic is a favourite.Gesine Hackenberg drills out circles from discarded plates, configuring them into necklaces which she presents on the original, now disfigured, platters.

生活日用品是最受欢迎的主题。Gesine Hackenberg从丢弃的盘子上钻出圆环，这原先被当做项链，而现在象征着破损的唱片。

Iris¹⁷ Eichenberg examines the psychological effect of transition to a new culture by assembling materials from different elements of an interior such as flooring, wall coverings and furniture into brooches and neck pieces.

Iris Eichenberg将不同的室内材料，例如地板、墙面装饰以及家具拼装成胸针和项链挂件，并通过这种新的尝试来检测对心理转变的影响。

Francis Willemstijn even uses old car parts to allude¹⁸ to her childhood spent in her father’s garage； contrary to expectation, they make exquisite¹⁹ jewellery.

Francis Willemstijn甚至利用汽车的废旧部件来暗示她在父亲车库里度过的童年。出乎意料的是，他们创作了精美的首饰。

This is jewellery offering a very different expression of identity.The wearer of such pieces challenges preconceived notions.It can include a whiff of intellectual snobbery²⁰, as the wearer can be seen as“buying a bit of the artist’s brain”.

这样一来，首饰就成了人们自我表达的一种方式。这些作品的佩戴者在冲击着人们的先入之见。佩戴者可被认为购买了艺术家的思想，因此它意味着才智的流露。