THE OFF-NEW

The Off New 

Budapest Jewelry Week
17—21 October 2026
Saturday 3—9 pm
Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed 11 am—6 pm

Kredenc-muterem
1113 Budapest Bartók Béla út 21

Curators
Letizia Maggio and Ilaria Ruggiero

Jewelry
Gisella Ciullo
Ylenia Deriu
Fluxis
Letizia Maggio
Meristema Lab
Students from the Course in Jewelry Design at IED Milano

Photography
Nico Covre

*The Off New* stems from the need to critically rethink the category of the "new" within the field of contemporary jewelry, liberating it from the rhetoric that frames originality and innovation as absolute values. 

Curated by Letizia Maggio and Ilaria Ruggiero, the exhibition showcases the work of established artists and emerging creators as part of Budapest Jewelry Week; it will take place from October 17 to 21 at the Kredenc-muterem space. 

In a cultural context dominated by what Boris Groys describes as the ceaseless production of differences, the "new" is not an exceptional event but the result of a continuous process of differentiation running through the entire cultural system. This perspective shifts the focus from the new as a spectacular event to the new as a "micro-shift"—a minute deviation that disrupts the linearity of the process. 

In this reading, the new does not equate to the unprecedented; rather, it emerges when a gesture, material, or code falls out of alignment with established expectations. 

In jewelry, this shift manifests as a technical deviation, an unexpected material behavior, or a conceptual gesture that introduces friction into the system—altering the work's entire logic. 

The exhibition brings together established and emerging artists, creating a field of generational tension that seeks not synthesis but *heterochrony*: an unsynchronized temporality where diverse practices brush against one another without coinciding. 

In this space, the piece of jewelry becomes a critical device capable of questioning tradition—not to surpass it, but to shift it out of alignment—and of using material not as a foundation for identity, but as a site of instability. 

The selected works demonstrate that the new is not a goal but a consequence—what emerges when the author accepts the possibility that the system may not function as intended.

"The Off New" thus proposes a theory of the new as a lateral event—an off-axis shift that seeks not to define novelty itself, but to make the conditions of its possibility visible. 

The project aligns with a school of thought that views deviation as a critical act capable of generating new forms of knowledge. In this sense, the exhibition is not merely a display, but a space where the new is defined not by what inaugurates, but by what misaligns; not by what breaks, but by what shifts; not by what imposes itself, but by what simply happens. 

The featured artists and designers are Gisella Ciullo, Ylenia Deriu, Fluxis, Letizia Maggio, Meristema Lab, and students from the Jewelry Design course at IED Milano: Jieyi Zhou and Enkhlen Bayaraa, Els Op De Beeck, Ginevra Rondena, Irene Gallotti, and Viola Yuan. 

A photographic intervention by Nico Covre quietly weaves through the theme, offering a parallel visual perspective through the skillful, disorienting use of the diptych; by operating within a space of visual and situational tension, it fosters a dynamic appreciation of the new.

On Sunday, October 18 at 4:00 PM, some of the event’s participants will engage in an open public discussion ‘New and Off-New’ with partners and co-creators of the project in conversation with Lieta Marziali.

About the Jewerly Design Course at IED Milano

Founded in 1966, IED – Istituto Europeo di Design is the largest network of Art and Design schools, serving as a global benchmark for project culture and creative industry education. Within this context, the Three-Year Course in Jewelry Design at IED Milano prepares students to design jewelry by combining traditional goldsmithing craftsmanship and freehand drawing with advanced digital technologies and 3D modeling. Understanding jewelry as a narrative, identity-driven, and research-based medium in constant dialogue with the body, the curriculum weaves together a solid project methodology, rich theoretical-cultural grounding, and experimentation with innovative materials. Through a hands-on laboratory approach and direct collaborations with leading brands and manufacturing companies, students respond to complex briefs ranging from fine jewelry to experimental pieces and fashion accessories, defining their own conscious design identity. The program shapes well-rounded designers equipped to master the entire creative process while independently managing visual and strategic communication—such as photography, styling, and exhibition design—for the presentation of their collections.