The most important amber exhibition in the world that takes place every year in Gdańsk, the World Amber Capital, was held this year in a slightly changed formula. This time it was much more peaceful, but one thing hasn’t changed: during the 27th edition of the fair you can still see beautiful and unique jewellery and amber masterpieces from around the world.
Almost 240 exhibitors from 13 countries came to Gdansk to take part in the most important and largest jewellery event in Central and Eastern Europe. Most of them are producers of unique silver and gold jewellery, but also gemstones, watches and other fashion accessories. However, that is not all. The fair also features producers, sellers and artists who create amber sculptures and paintings. There are also representatives of the furniture industry, offering unusual interior design ideas and the intriguing company Złoto Papuasów (Paupan Gold) that offers a unique collection of tribal art works from Oceania and Melanesia. You can also visit the Trend Book 2020 stand, i.e. the presentation of a publication by prof. Sławomir Fijałkowski, as well as see the Amber Trends 2020 exhibition. One of the most interesting attractions of the fair is the possibility to see insects sunk in lumps of amber.
The exhibit that drew our special attention was an amber sculpture by Tomasz Ołdziejewski, which shows the passenger ship RMS Titanic. The sculpture was inscribed in the Guinness Book of Records and at the same time it became an inspiration to create a new category – the world’s largest amber sculpture. The golden Titanic is 1.532 m long and the author used 40 kg of select amber to create it.
This year’s program was limited due to the pandemic. There was, however, a welcome cocktail party that took place on the first evening in the historic Wisłoujście Fortress. There were also two events planned to take place during the fair: a gemmological seminar on identification of loose and framed diamonds with the J-Screen device and the award ceremony for design competitions: Amberif Design Award and Amberif Selection. The winner of the Amberif Design Award 2020, whose theme was “Ultimate Beauty” was Marcin Tymiński.
The organisation of Amberif 2020 – like most of the large events in the era of pandemic – was in jeopardy. However, every effort was made to ensure that the event was safe for both exhibitors and visitors. The date of the event was changed as an exception, the Amber Look Amber and Fashion Gala was cancelled and a number of sanitary restrictions were introduced. Disinfectants were available on the fair grounds, each visitor required a mask, and the space between the exhibitors was larger than usual. Moreover, the fair was not available to the public. Only industry visitors were allowed to participate in the fair.
