Inflow Budapest 2026 Narrative Space: Encounter
Being selected for Inflow 2026 was an opportunity to place my work within an international contemporary jewelry context, alongside artists from 32 countries.
The exhibition explored the theme “Encounter”, inviting artists to respond to a literary text and interpret its ideas through their own work. I was selected with Alongside, a piece in cast brass and silk inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's reflections on love, solitude and the space between two people.
Alongside
Cast brass & silk · 2026
The starting point for Alongside was Rilke's reflection:
Love consists in this:
that two solitudes
protect, and border,
and greet each other.
I was drawn to the idea that intimacy doesn't have to mean merging with another person or giving up your own sense of self.
We are born alone into the ocean called life, each in our own small boat, navigating storms we didn't choose, beauty we didn't deserve. All heading to the same horizon.
Then love arrives. And we forget.
So afraid of navigating alone, we fight endlessly to grab the other. We climb into their boat and lose our own. Hold on so tight we pull them under. We confuse possession for protection, need for closeness, fear for devotion.
But love, at its truest, is two solitudes that protect and border each other, close enough to hold hands, each keeping their own boat.
To love is to remain whole together.
Alongside became my interpretation of that idea: that intimacy doesn't have to mean losing ourselves. Perhaps the most meaningful kind of togetherness is when two people can remain whole, each navigating their own boat, while choosing to travel alongside one another.
Meeting other makers
One of the highlights of Inflow was a two-day workshop with Charon Kransen, an influential curator, gallerist and advocate for contemporary jewelry, and founder of Charon Kransen Arts in New York.
I found myself surrounded by jewelry artists from completely different parts of the world. We talked about our work, our journeys and, perhaps most importantly, our doubts.
What struck me was how universal our fears can be.
Different countries, cultures and stories, yet so many of the same hopes, insecurities and ambitions. It was a beautiful reminder that, beneath all the differences, there is something remarkably human connecting people who choose to make things and put them out into the world.
A very special setting
The exhibition took place at ArtMill (MűvészetMalom), a former sawmill in Szentendre that has become an important contemporary art space.
The organizers created much more than an exhibition, with a fashion show, conference, workshops and opportunities to meet other artists.
And, of course, very good ice cream.
I was also happy to meet Magdalena Vélez Salinas, architect, artist and co-founder and president of AdOC, who was also part of the international jury for Inflow 2026. AdOC organizes the Contemporary Goldsmithing Exhibition in Madrid, where I had been selected the year before.
A trip for two
This time, my husband and I made the trip to Hungary especially for Inflow.
Last year, I turned 40 at AUTOR in Cluj, surrounded by my jewelry and the people I love. This year, it was his turn.
He celebrated his 40th birthday in Hungary, and somehow jewelry was there again, surrounding us during another big milestone in our family life.
We stayed in Szentendre, a beautiful little town on the Danube, known for its artistic heritage, galleries and winding streets. We spent our evenings walking around, discovering exhibitions, eating very good Hungarian food and listening to jazz drifting through the streets.
It was a trip for an exhibition, but it became a memory of its own. And perhaps that's what I love about these moments in jewelry: the piece may be what brings you somewhere, but you never quite know what else you will encounter along the way.
