Silversmithing & Jewellery Munich Catalogue 2026

Silversmithing & Jewellery Design – BA (Hons)

1st International Summit of the Jewellery Classes

6th March 2026 - 7pm

Pinakothek of Modern Art / Die Neue Sammlung

Barerstrasse 44, 80333 Munich

The Glasgow School of Art, Silversmithing & Jewellery Department (GSA S&J) is proud to present a performative pop-up exhibition as part of the inaugural SCHMUCKmünchen Student Summit, bringing together jewellery classes from leading institutions around the world.

Work by Year 3 undergraduates from the four-year BA (Hons) Silversmithing & Jewellery Design programme will be presented alongside pieces by tutors, artists in residence and final year students.

Rather than a conventional display, GSA S&J will stage an interactive procession within the museum. Students will model their own jewellery, inviting conversation, exchange and connection in an open and collective presentation. United by a contemporary interpretation of a traditional Scottish sash incorporating GSA identity that has been designed in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Textiles. The group will gather to the sound of Scottish bagpipes, creating a striking visual and an unmissable audible presence.

The individual works have been developed in response to Glasgow, particularly the anniversary marking 850 years since the city gained Burgh status in 1175. Through jewellery and object-making, students explored the people, architecture, industrial heritage and the distinct sense of place that shape the city. The resulting brooches created especially for ‘Schmuck 2026’ offer personal interpretations of Glasgow’s past, present and imagined futures.

Will you be one of the lucky ones to get your hands on a commemorative token that is marking the occasion?

Ghosts of the Riverbed

This brooch is inspired by stories passed down through Glasgow’s oral tradition about the sailors who drowned in the River Clyde. Many have claimed to witness the ghosts of these lost sailors, describing how, on storm-lit nights, their spirits rise with the mist-drifting just beneath the surface before dissolving into the darkened waters.

The front of the brooch symbolises the river’s foam, while the surrounding chains reference anchor chains once essential for sailors’ stability and survival. In this piece, however, they hang loose and suspended, no longer securing a vessel but instead conveying a sense of absence, loss, and dislocation.

@anothrdiaspora

The Three Perfumes

Copper & beads

75 x 112 x 0.7mm

This brooch is a commemoration of Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh’s work as a notable ‘Glasgow Girl’.

Taken from my favourite of her paintings, ‘The Three Perfumes’. I used a purple patina and purple flowing beads to emulate the watercolour painterly look to the chased brooch.

@scarlettbettymay

Necropolis

Copper, Silver, Brass Nickel & Bogwood bead

53 x 60 x 6 (closed) / 150 x 60 x 1 (open)

The Glasgow Necropolis, City of the Dead, is a large Victorian Era cemetery that sprawls across a hill, home to 3,500 tombs and 50,000 burials. The articulating panels of this brooch layer to resemble the winding walk up the hill and the ‘city skyline’ the gravestones create. Patina is utilised to emulate the decay on the stones. Suspended from the tiered landscape is a repurposed bogwood bead, a reference to Victorian Era mourning jewellery.

@bella.hntr

Weegie Spirit

Copper, silver, gilding metal & enamel

40 x 40 x 60mm

This brooch is inspired by the infamous statue of the Duke of Wellington, who has donned a bright orange cone ‘hat’ since the 1980s. Despite tens of thousands of pounds spent removing this stylish headpiece yearly, the cone returns as an iconic symbol of Glasgows cheeky spirit and sense of humour.

@1_l0v3_n3squ1ck

x 50 x 1mm

This brooch is inspired by the Clydeway ships that have been used for hundreds of years in Glasgow. These ships are known for their tough structure and being powerful in tough waters. I gave the brooch a silver wire outline to represent the Clydeway Ships iconic advertisement posters.

@Lucyann_jewellery

20 x 18 x 51mm

This piece is inspired by structure and elements of architecture through photography. Exploring the connection between visuals in photography and translating this. Each part within the piece has been individually constructed revealing different appearance from light and different views.

@gsa_sj

Strip the Willow

Stainless steel & silver

95 ø x 20mm

Swift forms can be seen weaving and pulsing through this piece, evocative of the motions during ‘Strip the Willow’ ceilidh dance. Glasgow is host to countless celebrations, dalliances and memories found within these special moments of communal connection. Using stainless steel to create the woven body of the brooch creates a sense of strength in this network.

@thesulvasmith

This piece is worn as a whistle, producing a deep tone to reference the sound of Glasgow’s strong winds. The whistle is inspired by the Scottish myth of the Selkie, allowing the wearer to amplify their own siren call.

@tal.fs

Dear Green Place

Felt, beads & thread.

55 x 75 x 10mm

Brooch inspired by the abundance of green space in Glasgow. The form is taken from the shape of Glasgow, and features the River Clyde flowing through the piece. The phrase ‘Dear Green Place’ comes from the Gaelic origin of Glaschu, Glas meaning grey/green and chu meaning hollow/dear place.

@emmalilymakes

Tinderbox city

Copper/gilding metal mokume-gane, fine silver, glass & stainless steel

33 x 87 x 30mm

Glasgow's history of frequent and devastating fires has led it to be known as the "tinderbox city". This piece is a nod to the projector that caused the 2014 fire at GSA's Mackintosh library which resulted in major cultural, historical, academic, and personal losses. The brooch opens up, allowing the wearer to always store small precious belongings on their clothes because when escaping a fire, you bring nothing but the clothes on your back.

Key of Glasgow Sterling silver

75 x 30 x 2mm

Kilt pin inspired by the Glasgow keys to the city, Ben Lomond, Kelvingrove Park and Glasgow’s architecture. Letter stamped to mark the 850th Anniversary.

@Pollythompson.jewellery

Kissing spheres

Stirling silver & glass lens

Inspired by the process of granulation and the bizarrely intimate visual language of biology textbooks, this broach depicts the static charge shared by two close objects as a sensual encounter.

70 x 52mm

@gsa_sj

Barra’s Bric-a-Brac

Brass, silver & found objects

80 x 40mm

The Barras is full of eclectic charm, overflowing with discarded items rich in history. One old seller said something that stayed with me: ‘We buy rubbish, we sell antiques.’ It perfectly captured the spirit of the place and my own affection for these once forgotten treasures, which others might overlook as ‘rubbish’.

@silversaucee

Prism Light

Aluminium, Steel & Resin

85 x 80 x 60mm

Inspired by Mackintosh's House for an Art Lover, this brooch captures its contrast of rigid geometry and soft curves. Captured the warm light streaming through the window. Lightweight aluminium forms the structure, complemented by delicate wirework, merging ruggedness with refinement.

@0zxx.xxz0

Medusa eggs

Sliver & Mother of pearl

52 x 52 x 10mm

The design of this brooch is inspired by the embryonic stage of a jellyfish’s life cycle and is part of my graduation project. Its overall structure primarily utilizes organic forms to reflect the shape of a jellyfish egg. Techniques such as wire drawing and the use of mother-of-pearl are employed to create a sense of lightness, echoing the essence of the marine ecosystem.

@liatrisbian_

Waverley to Queen Street

Sterling silver, brass & stainless steel

70 x 60 x 10mm

Representing my daily journey from home in Edinburgh to the School of Art in Glasgow, the shapes in this brooch are drawn from textures and patterns on platforms and trains. Etched in to the surface are my fellow travellers from both cities.

@tina_avery_silversmith

The Streets of Glasgow

Sterling silver, copper, enamel & steel

50 x 50 x 3mm

The brooch celebrates the overlooked infrastructures of the city and the subtle details that shape our daily experience. Taking its form and colour from the truncated domes embedded in the street, it draws attention to their quiet but essential role in urban life.

@militsa_milenkova

G2 / 55.86584

Sintered Aluminium, Silicon, Enamel, Gold & Steel

88 x 7mm

G2 / 55.86584 is the postcode and geographical location of Glasgow centre, a famous grid layout that emerged on the Blythswood lands, bounded by Sauchiehall Street to the north and Argyle Street to the south in the 19th Century . The 1820 maps by architect James Gillespie were the starting point for the drawn thread stencil made to apply the enamel pattern on to the silicon lens of the brooch.

@hellohellomrb

Irn-Bruooch

Aluminium, Platinum & 18ct gold

52 x 52 x 10mm

This brooch reflects my fascination with the transformative potential of materials, experimentation and the connections between object and place. Interlaced ribbons of gold, platinum and aluminium ‘threads’, sliced from an empty IRN-BRU can, create flashes of colour. Evolving through wire-working techniques, they introduce visual movement, texture and subtle colour variations that invite a closer look at the details and quiet resonances carried by the materials themselves.

@andrewlambjewellery

Respicere

Silver, 9ct gold & cubic zirconia

118 x 45 x 10mm

Respicere: to look back at, regard consider. A vintage gold pendant designed to hold a 22ct gold sovereign coin, a potent signifier of the UK’s historic empirical status, has been reconfigured and repurposed embracing the palimpsestic nature of jewellery, challenging both messaging and value. Suspending an oxidised silver element referencing the shape of a Victorian crystal chandelier lustre, the piece considers how the here and now reflects on and responds to history and the past.

We extend our sincere thanks to Dr Petra Hoelscher and to everyone at the Pinakothek der Moderne / Die Neue Sammlung involved with inviting us and for hosting the 1st Summit of Jewellery Classes.

Our gratitude goes to Alan Shaw Centre for Advanced Textiles Manager @catdigital, GSA and Ashleigh Miller Fashion Technical Team Leader @gsa_tsd, GSA

Jane Milosch, PhD, Honorary Professor / Visiting Fellow of the University of Glasgow and keen supporter of the GSA S&J department, also joins our event, wearing a selection of pieces created my members of the faculty.

Huge thanks to the S&J technical team for their support, @GSA_SJ students, staff and graduates for their enthusiasm and creativity.

Special thanks to Kimberley Bates and Matty Ottosson, Administrative Officers, School of Design, GSA for all the help in the smooth planning and organisation of the GSA S&J Munich 2026 study trip.

@gsa_sj