Neža Žehelj’s pieces interpret lost and found stories conceptually plugged into released jewellery collections and one of a kind wearable pieces of art.
Marble & Metal
Slovenian Jewellery week / Ljubljana / 2025
Plečnik's house museum / Solo exhibition / Ljubljana/ 2021
Goldsmith & Jewellery exhibition / Nature & Jewellery / Pavillion Gallery / Tržič / Slovenia / 2019
Many things influence how we feel – colours, weather, shapes, smells, materials ... and we think about all these factors when deciding what we like and don't like. Jewellery is no exception.
It comes in different shapes, sizes and colours, it is made using different techniques and materials, and each piece has specific characteristics. Marble is a rather unexpected material for making jewellery. It represents something cool and sophisticated, but on the other hand durable, strong and classic. Marble represents the finest form of stone. Jože Plečnik (the world-famous Slovene architect) was also fascinated by it. Much of his oeuvre is in stone. His architecture is renowned for being timeless, innovative and at the same time supremely classical.
Its distinctive forms continue to inspire artists of all kinds today. Jewellery designer Neža Žehelj also drew inspiration from Plečnik's architecture for her marble jewellery collection. She says: "I have also taken inspiration from the material that you feel through its shape or touch – I have always been captivated by the grandeur, smoothness and a kind of unearthly shine of worked marble. In churches and staircases, stone columns, statues or other marble details always call me to admire and touch. I am fascinated by how a mighty mass of raw marble can become something so refined, smooth and perceptive."
Personal Treasures
Slovenian Jewellery week
Ljubljana / 2023
MAO / Universum Plečnik architectural exhibition / exhibited selected jewellery pieces / group exhibition / 2022 - 23
Plečnik's house museum / solo exhibition / Ljubljana / 2021
Collectiva Joalharia de Autor gallery / COLLECTIVA MEETING / International group exhibition / Porto, Portugal / 2019
AUTOR International contemporary jewellery fair and platform in Southeast Europe /Bucharest / 2018
I explore how jewellery can hide and control access to personal meaning. A sealed personal object as carrier of invisible personal histories that reveals a hidden emotional or symbolic interior.
Personal treasures are a series of wearable containers that conceal intimate, self-defined contents. Each piece functions as a private repository— holding a fragment, a material, or a message chosen by its wearer. By enclosing something personal and invisible, the object shifts from ornament to amulet: a silent carrier of meaning, memory, or intention.The act of opening and closing becomes a ritual-negotiating what is revealed and what remains hidden.These works explore the tension between exterior form and interior significance, questioning how value is assigned, protected, and kept unseen.
The act of opening and closing becomes a ritual-negotiating what is revealed and what remains hidden.These works explore the tension between exterior form and interior significance, questioning how value is assigned, protected, and kept unseen.