Patina presents an exhibition of Spanish artist Enric Majoral’s newest works. In this third exhibit from Patina’s Summer 2008 exhibition cycle, Adornment for the 21st Century, Majoral introduces Sand Jewels, one-of-a-kind rings, necklaces, brooches and bracelets in silver and 18k gold. New York’s Museum of Art and Design has recently acquired Majoral’s work for its permanent collection. 

Majoral’s refined jewelry often reflects an architectural integrity while remaining delicate and wearable. In them we recognize an enduring fascination with relationships of space and volume. His newest works, Sand Jewels, have a more organic feel and move away from the precision of earlier pieces. They are crusty, organic and seem dredged from the waters of a remote, ocean grotto.

Now, as always, his work is deeply influenced by Nature and his island home of Formentera. Earlier collections bear such names as Posidonia (Poseidon), Plui (Rain) and Trossos de Formentera (Pieces of Formentera.) He is self-taught and unlimited in his creative interests. A sculptor and designer, too, Majoral’s willingness to creatively explore and experiment is almost without limit.

Born in 1949 and raised in Franco’s Spain, Majoral left school at fourteen to help support his family. As an apprentice in an architect’s office, he learned drafting, drawing and to think spatially. At night he attended a school for industrial arts where he was introduced to carpentry, weaving, and pottery.

Majoral was 19 and traveling extensively when he discovered Formentera, a tiny, little developed island off the coast of Spain. Warmed by the sun, it was a refuge for sea birds and an intrepid young man who wanted to remain there. But how?

Majoral answered this question by drawing upon his training in architecture and traditional craft. He created jewelry he could sell in markets on the island and in time, found in his craft an expressiveness and deepening vocabulary for ideas. Today, we have the mature, fully realized works of one of Europe’s premier jewelry artists.

Majoral has lived and worked as an artist for the past 30 years. He maintains a home on Formentera, dividing his time between the island and cosmopolitan, Barcelona. The trajectory of his life has carried him from post-war Europe to the present, creatively rooted in a tradition of craft that provides the foundation for a distinctly contemporary, 21st century aesthetic.