Camila Hori had a conversation with Melanie Grant, the curator of Brilliant & Black, and Frank Everett, Sotheby’s Sales Director for the Luxury Division, in the months prior to Brilliant & Black: Age of Enlightenment. What followed was a discussion regarding the current situation facing Black designers, which includes both well-known difficulties and a positive advancement in recognition.
After George Floyd and the largest protest rebellion in American history, the first exhibition took place in 2021. I asked Frank [Everett] if he would think about hosting the first selling show for jewelry artists of African origin when we were already in discussions about organizing an event for my book. Frank startled me by answering “yes” almost immediately.
19 living designers, together with two estates, were asked to participate. The purpose of the program was to showcase the best Black jewelry talent, which was uncommon at the time. Large jewelers have typically stated, “We’re doing a collection on African jewelry,” without including or employing African people in the production or creation of the jewelry. To move beyond African-inspired to people of African origin being the actual creators. I knew designers who deserved to have a higher profile, but who just didn’t have the ability to do that themselves.
We needed well-established artists, artist jewelers and high jewelers who had the work but not necessarily the platform. Before 2020, much fewer people knew who they were. In the first Brilliant & Black, we had a lot of gem-set pieces, we had a million-dollar ring that Maggi Simpkins created from LA. And we pushed everyone out of their comfort zones. Most of them made at least one completely new piece for us (they gave us three pieces each).
