Digital jewellery is an emerging field of research and practice that combines jewellery practices with microelectronics and employs methodologies from art, craft, design and Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI). This interdisciplinary approach offers exciting possibilities for designing innovative digital devices on the body. However, the field of digital jewellery remains loosely defined and underdeveloped. It is timely to give voice to jewellers and to lead them to shape the many ways in which digital technology can be meaningful to the wearer. This paper synthesises insights from the past five years of digital jewellery research conducted in two jewellery education programs in the UK and Denmark. In doing so, it amplifies the voices of the new generation of jewellers, analysing their practices and highlighting their potential to shape the future of wearable devices. By emphasising longevity, emotional resonance, embodiment and selfreflection, the new generation of digital jewellers offers a compelling alternative to tech-driven wearables.
“Whilst jewellers enthusiastically adopted CAD and 3D printing technologies, awareness of digital jewellery research grows slowly. Meanwhile, the wearable tech industry sees the contribution of jewellery as decorative enhancement for devices like fitness trackers, overlooking jewellers’ deep understanding of intimate body-device connections. Their expertise can transform digital applications, especially in health devices, and blur boundaries between jewellery and technology. This paper synthesises digital jewellery knowledge to build shared language and envision future directions. “(Koulidou, Henriksen 2025)
Scientific article: Situated practices in digital jewellery research: The collective voices of the new generation of jewellers
Acknowledgements
We sincerely thank all jewellery students across both institutions who acted as co-researchers in the field of digital jewellery and embraced the challenge of engaging with electronics and coding within their practices.
