Bella Neyman of NYC Jewelry Week on Shifting Jewelry Landscape

By Mia Hebib and In conversation with Mia Hebib (Oblik Atelier) 

In anticipation of the 8th annual NYC Jewelry week in November, I sat down with the founder Bella Neyman to discuss the hustle, current dialogues and challenges in the jewelry world.

Most folks outside our industry may be equally intimidated by the fine jewelry houses and the studio jewelry artisans. Our goal in the entire field is to grow and educate the audience.  NYC Jewelry Week doesn't ask you to look through glass. It invites you into the studio. Into the conversation: 

"This is exactly why we started New York City Jewelry Week," says Bella Neyman, the force behind NYCJW. "To build a platform that helps independent designers and artists get seen. The reality: people are self-funding, doing their own show applications and socials, and many can't afford big trade shows. NYCJW gives them a stage, community, and visibility."

It's an infrastructure for a field in transition, where the person who conceives a piece is increasingly the same person who makes it, markets it, and tells its story.

Lay of the Land

Studio art jewelers traditionally made their own work, whereas in fine jewelry houses there was a distinction between who conceives the design and who executes it. Masters craftsmen/women were usually separated from the design process. Today this concept is collapsing in the independent designer world where small brands are designing and making the jewelry, possessing both the creative and technical skills.

Craftsmanship 

Art jewelry, fine jewelry, studio jewelry and designer jewelry are connected by the core principal- craftsmanship. Attention to detail and ensuring pieces are beautifully made is an important factor that ensures timelessness and quality. 

Storytelling as Survival

The biggest shift in contemporary jewelry isn't technical, It's narrative. "There's a deeper emotional connection between maker and wearer," Neyman observes. "Even in fine jewelry, 'who made this' and 'why' matter now."

She maps the evolution clearly: "Traditionally, the split was about intent: studio/art jewelry centered concept and storytelling, closer to sculpture or fine art, while fine jewelry prioritized precious materials and beauty. That line is shifting: storytelling is now key everywhere."

This convergence changes everything. When narrative becomes essential across all jewelry contexts, the maker who can articulate their process, their material choices, their conceptual framework has leverage. The object alone isn't enough anymore. Context is currency.

NYCJW frames jewelry as a language: telling where a piece comes from, who made it, and what it wants to say. The programming reflects this philosophy. Panels, interviews, exhibitions all center not just objects, but maker stories, material provenance, conceptual frameworks. For studio jewelers and independent makers, this narrative imperative creates both opportunity and overwhelm. Because here's the reality Neyman names plainly: "Today many designers are one-person brands: designing, producing, photographing, marketing, applying for grants, running socials. The hustle is real, but it keeps the work personal."

Promotion

When I asked Bella about our responsibility to make sure that we build a larger audience around our work and the existence of this fantastic platform, her answer is simple: “ We just want people to promote that they are doing things, collaborating and participating” Because we all (designers, creators, gallery owners) wear so many hats, and spend so much time in preparation for the actual event, we forget that sharing everywhere about it, collectively, will overtime expand our reach.  I completely agree, I spend so much time on crafting my newsletter and sharing my work that it has paid off in an engagement from my audience, attendance and responses to what I share. 

The Generosity Economy

What emerges from Neyman's practice and from NYCJW's structure is a model based on abundance rather than scarcity.  She recently collaborated with a retailer that wanted to thank their customer by taking them on a visit to other jewelry studios. This generosity isn't naive. It's strategic. "Some folks worry 'If I promote X, my clients will go to them.' That's not how it works," Neyman insists.” Generosity grows the pie”

She points to a powerful example: "The independent NYC designer, Kindred Lubeck, who made Taylor Swift's engagement ring. Her Instagram exploded and she used that moment to highlight other jewelers: sharing friends and colleagues for anyone seeking a ring. That's the spirit."

I can certainly attest to that when I share retail space with my colleagues and peers like Meghan Patrice Riley, Ashley Buchanan, and Laura Wood. "When you know someone's customer, you know when they'll love a colleague's work. There's room for everyone. We've long had that camaraderie.  And, it keeps the ecosystem healthy."

This philosophy extends throughout NYCJW's programming. The week isn't about scarcity: limited access, exclusive previews, insider advantage. It's about circulation. Getting work seen. Connecting makers to audiences. Building networks of mutual support.

Creating Small Medicis

I was curious about growing a younger audience that commissions work from independent designers. I shared,  "A guy in his early 30s in furniture design, recently reached out to me to plan matching engagement rings, opal rings. He values handwork from his field and wanted the same values in jewelry." This is the audience that exists: people who understand craft from adjacent disciplines, who recognize quality, who want personal connection to the objects they live with.

Neyman responded that the younger generation, for a while, were not interested in amassing and being called collectors, they value repurposing and limiting acquisition, because they are mindful of the environment and impact. 

But they are interested in value and story and want to engage, she says: “they are not “commercial” in a way, and do place a lot of value in handmade, because they are growing up with AI, and ChatGPT, and they are interested in  honoring craft and art tradition. 

The question is infrastructure. How do you connect these potential commissioners to makers? How do you build trust across the transaction? How do you communicate value when mass production has conditioned people to expect jewelry at certain price points?

Neyman's approach: cross-pollination. "Find contexts beyond jewelry fairs—be the one of two or three jewelers at a design or craft event where your work stands out." Go where your audience already is. Don't wait for them to find you. She says, ” People need to see the work, they need to touch it and try it on!  Social media will only take you so far” You need to be out there. 

She answered my question about the future of jewelry in that paragraph and I surmised that “Because everything else is so streamlined, funneled to your level of convenience, finding places where you can co-create something, or someone creates something for you that’s meaningful, where there is the hand component, and there is the delayed gratification will be the counter point and balance to the fast and convenient way of AI and technology. 

Champions 

I wanted to know about industry champions or people that are promoting and highlighting jewelry art and craft. 

For her it’s not necessarily only people, it’s organizations and she's enthusiastic about platforms doing this work: "The Loewe Craft Prize broadening conversation and traveling the exhibition, Homo Faber publishing guides that include many craftspeople, major fairs like TEFAF, Salon, Design Miami, Art Basel, plus newer/smaller fairs that are more accessible." And she loves "small capsules: one textile artist, one furniture person, one jeweler. Cross-sections that make discovery easy."

The Transatlantic Reality

Neyman's frequent travel between the U.S. and Europe gives her perspective on how different continents support makers. "Conversations are similar: everyone's talking about gold prices!” Europe has traditionally offered more institutional support, grants, structures that help artists pursue their practice, and it seems that is also changing. Europeans also recognize the value and the necessity of the US market, without it their practice is not sustainable. 

She recognizes American culture's peculiar influence: "The U.S. market breadth and cultural influence are astounding. Designers abroad constantly reference American culture and trends: even if they won't admit it." She laughs about recently serving on a UK trend panel that referenced Clueless and Legally Blonde. "With love: great movies! But it shows how American culture seeps in everywhere."

The Future

Looking forward, Neyman sees a balance: tech will streamline life, but jewelry thrives where hand meets meaning.  This tension between efficiency and meaning-making is where contemporary jewelry practice exists. 

Some of the key takeaways for an artist

• Treat  storytelling as essential, not supplementary

• Operate from abundance rather than scarcity

• Build audience beyond traditional collectors

• Fearless promotion and cross promotion

• Adaptability to the changing metal markets 

What NYC Jewelry week offers :

• Creates access without gatekeeping

• Connects makers across disciplines and geographies

• Builds audience beyond traditional collectors

• Acknowledges the full labor of independent practice

• Champions fine jewelry, independent designers, studio art jewelers and creates and equal playing field. 

The programming proves something important: there's hunger for jewelry content that doesn't simplify the work to a mere accessory, and doesn't reduce objects to investment vehicles,

This is how fields evolve,  through the patient building of alternative structures, through platforms that amplify voices the field has historically excluded.  For makers, wearers, thinkers invested in jewelry's future as serious creative practice, NYCJW offers both model and invitation, to show up, to contribute to locate yourself within a community that believes this work matters.

The 2025 schedule is now live on nycjewelryweek.com Sign up for their mailing list and follow @nycjewelryweek to stay up to date.

Not all events post at once, so keep refreshing as listings roll out. The work continues.

---

Curious about NYCJW’s backstory? Hear Bella Neyman’s full interview with JCK Online here

NYC Jewelry Week takes place annually in November. For information on upcoming programming, visit nycjewelryweek.com