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’
1991: ‘Anulus Sum’