Courtesy of the Artist Marks 20 Years with ‘Pressure & Time’: A Celebration of Australian Jewellery and Craftsmanship

To mark twenty years of working with jewellers, gemstones and stories that honour both material and maker, Courtesy of the Artist presents Pressure & Time: a contemporary jewellery exhibition in Sydney about the two forces that create everything of worth.

Featuring new work by:

Carla Maxine
Cesar Cueva
Cinnamon Lee
Leonie Simpson
Marina Anotniou
Nina Cueva
Roberto Mattei
Todd Turner

Event Details:

Friday 7 November 2025 6-8pm
BC House, 11 Little Burton Street Darlinghurst

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Deep below the surface, minerals are transformed by heat and compression into crystalline forms capable of brilliance.

In the studio, that story repeats itself in miniature: through patience, precision and persistence, a jeweller reveals form from the raw, light from the opaque.

Curated by co-founder Nina Cueva, Pressure & Time draws a parallel between geological formation and human creation — between the natural forces that shape a gem, and the creative pressures that shape an artist’s work.

Nina Cueva in the studio with Cinnamon Lee. Image: Kim Low

Unfolding across three layers: Earth → Gem, Maker → Work, and Work → Wearer, the exhibition honours the science of the gem and the artistry of the hand.

“As curator of Pressure & Time, what feels so special about this exhibition is seeing these works placed back into the ‘company’ of what created them. These pieces aren’t just beautifully made, they’re shown in a space surrounded by some of the rarest minerals, crystals and fossils that have spent millions of years becoming themselves.

You can actually feel the link between the artists’ hands and the forces of the earth that slow transformation and patience. The jewellery becomes part of a bigger story here…it’s in dialogue with deep time, with origin, with matter before it ever became “precious.”"

Opening 7 November 6pm at B.C. House, Pressure & Time celebrates two decades of Australian jewellery craftsmanship, setting the tone for what’s to come: jewellery, physics and story, bound together by endurance and light.