Manuel Vilhena, born Lisbon 1967.
He started making Jewellery in his teens learning from master craftsmen in Brazil and Italy. He later completed his training as a goldsmith in 1989. Curious about the Contemporary Jewellery phenomenon, he made his way to Cologne, to study with Prof. Skubic and later enrolled at the Royal College of Art, London under Prof. Watkins, where he completed his Masters’ degree in 1998.
In 1999 he founded Postcon with Boekhoudt, Fink and Hansen. The group disbanded soon after but Postcon remains active in promoting ‘Post-Contemporary Jewellery’ and other far-fetched ideas. Some are contained in Manuel’s book Do you speak Jewellery?© (1998), a seminal text for Contemporary Jewellery theory.
He has taught extensively at jewellery related institutions around the world, including the Royal College of Art, Hiko Mizuno Jewellery College, Tokyo; Silpakorn University, Bangkok; ARCO school, Lisbon, the Shenkar College in Tel-Aviv and the Alchimia School, Florence,where he was senior lecturer for six years. He was workshop leader at the Salzburg Summer Academy for two years and held a Professorship at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts for four years. He is an entertaining lecturer and most of what he says is true.
His artwork has been shown in several countries and photos of his pieces can be seen in several books on Contemporary Jewellery. The work is also present in some public and private collections, including that of the Danner Rotunde, Munich and that of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
In 2007 he joined NASA (National Art Science Academy), where he collaborates with other ‘scholars’ and ‘scientists’ to promote a unified theory for the Arts, of which the formula ‘E=mc3’ is but an example.
He practises worldwide, aiming at developing the creative potential of people through the arts.
He lives between the mountains of central Europe and sunny Portugal with occasional stops for bird-watching here and there.
Manuel Vilhena
- 1967
- Lisbon, Portugal
- 1998
- MA (Jewellery). Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom
- 2015
- Founder of ‘The Postcon Project’ Arts Education Academy
- 2012/2013
- External Tutor, ARCO, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2006–2010
- Professor II / KHIO Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway
- 2009, 2010
- Salzburg Summer Academy Jewellery course Leader
- 2001–2007
- Senior Lecturer / Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School, Florence, Italy
Individual Exhibitions
- 2014
- ‘Miss Amelia’, Galeria Reverso, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2013
- ‘Ponto Final’, Galeria Adorna Corações, Porto, Portugal
- 2013
- ‘Miss Amelia and other stories’, Galerie Biró, Munich, Germany
- 2012
- ‘Miss Amelia and 1001 Rings’ Galerie SO, London, UK
- 2010
- ‘Counterbalances’ (with Peter Skubic), Galerie 3, Klagenfurt, Austria
- 2009
- ‘How to become an elephant, and other stories’ – Galerie SO, CH
- 2009
- ‘And & About’ (With Castello Hansen) – Electrum Gallery, London, UK
- 2008
- ‘In my interior’ – Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, Brussels, Belgium
- 2008
- ‘Norte/Sul’ (with Castello Hansen) – Galeria Reverso, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2008
- Villa Bengel (with Iris Bodemer), Idar-Oberstein, Germany
- 2007
- ‘Love at first sight’ (with Philip Sajet) – Marijke Studio, Padova, Italy
- 2005
- ‘Roots II’ – Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- 2004
- ‘Roots’ Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- 2003
- Galerie Hnoss, Goteburg, Sweden
- 2003
- Vitrine @ Galerie V&V, Vienna, Austria
- 2002
- ‘Silêncio’ – Galeria Tereza Seabra, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2002
- Galerie Marzee, Nijmmegen, The Netherlands
- 2001
- ‘1001 Rings’ – ISA, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2001
- ‘Solos’ – Electrum Gallery, London, United Kingdom
- 2000
- ‘Solos’ – Galerie Metal, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 1999
- ‘Arabian Nights’ – Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- 1993
- Galerie Cebra (with Claudia Baugut), Dusseldorf, Germany
- 1992
- ‘Correntes de ar’ – Galeria Contacto Directo, Lisbon, Portugal
- 1991
- ‘Anulus Sum’ – Museu Nacional Do Traje, Lisbon, Portugal
Own Printed Matter
- 2012
- ‘Miss Amelia’
- 2005
- ‘MV 365’
- 1998
- ‘Do You Speak Jewellery?©’
- 1991
- ‘Anulus Sum’
