What you’ll learn in this episode:   How studying and apprenticing abroad helped Ilona push the limits of her work How objects carry memories, and why that can influence someone’s desire to buy a vintage piece Why the most important thing a gallerist can do is choose pieces that resonate with them How art jewelry galleries create a channel of communication from artist to wearer to observer Why jewelry artists have more freedom that other types of artists   About Ilona Schwippel Ilona Schwippel has run the gallery Viceversa, in Lausanne, Switzerland, with her husband Christian Balmer for 20 years. She holds a bachelor in product design, jewelry and accessories from the High School of Arts and Design (HEAD) in Geneva and a diploma in luxury creations and artistic crafts from the University of Geneva. Since 2017, Ilona has lectured at the University of Applied Science, in Lucerne, in the XS Schmuck department.   Additional Resources: Vice Versa Website Vice Versa Instagram Vice Versa Facebook   Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript Gallerists have a unique position in the jewelry world as the connectors between artist and wearer—and Ilona Schwippel holds sacred this responsibility. As co-owner of jewelry gallery Viceversa in Lausanne, Switzerland, she is always looking for the pieces that resonate with her and her clients. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about why jewelry carries the memories of its previous owners; why jewelry gives artists more freedom than any other medium; and how giving context to a piece can change a customer’s perception of it—for better or worse. Read the episode transcript here.   Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the first part of a two-part episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it’s released later this week.   Many of you know that I went on Art Jewelry Forum’s trip to Switzerland to find Swiss jewelers that I didn’t know about. Art Jewelry Forum has an international trip every year, and they’re usually very interesting and very good. There I met Ilona Schwippel and her partner, Christian, who are owners of the gallery Viceversa. The gallery has a mix of up-and-comers as well as those who are familiar names. They’re located in the center of Lausanne. It’s a great place to be located because there’s a lot of foot traffic. People must stop in the store never having heard of it, but they are attracted by the windows. I was really taken with the name of the gallery, which is Viceversa, and thought about what it could mean. Since I couldn’t come up with anything on my own, I’ll let Ilona tell you. Ilona, welcome to the podcast.   Ilona: Hi Sharon. Thank you so much for this wonderful invitation.   Sharon: I’m glad you’re here.   Ilona: Actually, to explain the name, I have to talk about the story of Viceversa gallery. Christian Balmer —actually my husband; we’re married—opened a small gallery in 1991. A couple of years later, in 1998, with a colleague, they opened a new store, a new gallery. All of a sudden, there existed these two stores. It was like vice versa—one of them in the other store. That’s why when I’m talking about organizing and summing up this whole project, each of them came up with the word, vice versa and vice versa. So, they stuck to the name and selected it for the new gallery.   I came to Lausanne. We had met a couple of years before. At the time, I was still living in Lisbon. I’m a jewelry maker, and I had an internship, a practice, in Tel Aviv with an Israeli jewelry maker. During a show we had in Basel, Christian came as a visitor, and that’s how we met. It was a professional meeting.   Sharon: I was surprised because in reading about it, the name of the gallery had been around for a long time, it seemed.   Ilona: Yes, this year in November, in three weeks, we will celebrate 25 years of t