March 15, 2015 (Sunday) – Manuel Vilhena

We had a very productive day today after the 11:00 a.m. MAG to SNAG: American Studio Jewelry, 1940-1970 Talk by Toni Greenbaum at the Pinakothek der Moderne. We visited numerous exhibitions and galleries (almost 15 with Solo Show: in Honour of Hermann Junger and Bubble Land as my top 2 favourites) after but for me, the highlight of the day was at Windfall GmbH. As we entered Amalienstrasse 81a, we were greeted by a friendly man, and were told about a talk at 2:00 p.m. He explained to us that he is from a new Contemporary Jewellery school in Austria, and gave us brochures. There were copies of a book titled Do You Speak Jewellery? Remastered on the table, and said that they are the concise version of a book published about 20 years ago, and are for $10.00. Then I said, “He is a famous author.” And the man said, “That is me.” I was a bit embarrassed but funny enough, he was overwhelmed by my abrupt complement. I bought his book, and he gladly signed it for me with a, “Thank you for the surprise.”

Me and Manuel Vilhena after the Signing of His Book, Do You Speak Jewellery? Remastered

Do You Speak Jewellery? Remastered is a medium-sized book about the size of an A5 paper with black print on a white background. Inside you will find a page of information about things related to Jewellery for each letter of the alphabet. Out of curiosity, I went straight to letter V, and it is about Vade Mecum. The information only has a short question: “Need we say more?” I honestly had no idea what ‘vade mecum’ is but according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is something regularly carried for ready reference, i.e. a book or manual. I also noticed that there is a handwritten number 68 out of 100 on the first page. Apparently, there is a limited number of this book available, and I feel lucky enough to get one.

For more information about Manuel Vilhena and his works, please visit his website at <http://www.manuelvilhena.com/>.