Craft & Luxury in the Contemporary World at NYC Jewelry Week 2026

Exploring how institutions, patrons, and artists sustain and advance craft traditions worldwide. Using jewelry as a springboard, Michelle Fisher of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Dana Naberezny of Tiffany & Co, and jeweler Heath Wagoner, will discuss how fine crafts like weaving, pottery, or jewelry remain integral to human life. Moderating the discussion will be writer and design historian Camille Okhio. We will investigate who is supporting the survival of these craft traditions and which patrons, curators, institutions, and artists are inventing new ways to keep craft alive, focusing especially on the growing role of luxury houses, foundations, and cultural organizations that support, preserve, and advance craft traditions around the world. NYCJW26: November 16–22, 2026 Each November, NYC Jewelry Week presents The Week, a seven-day celebration of jewelry and the people, ideas, and craftsmanship behind it. NYCJW26 brings together a global audience for a dynamic mix of in-person and virtual experiences across New York City and beyond. Explore the full NYCJW26 Schedule, featuring exhibitions, shopping experiences, retail collaborations, talks, panels, workshops, demonstrations, tours, and more. Virtual programs will be streamed on YouTube, while in-person events offer opportunities to engage directly with artists, designers, curators, collectors, and other members of the jewelry community. With many programs free and open to the public, NYC Jewelry Week invites everyone—from longtime jewelry enthusiasts to those just beginning to explore the field—to discover the artistry, ideas, histories, and craftsmanship that make jewelry so compelling. Join us for NYCJW26, November 16–22, 2026. Michelle Millar Fisher, PhD, is the chief curator at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. From 2019-2026 she was the Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has just released her next book, Craft Schools: A Traveler’s Guide to Creativity Across the United States which took her across 48 contiguous US states via train over the course of four years to consider the necessity of embodied knowledge in an age of accelerated technology. She also collaborates with an independent team on a book (MIT Press, 2021), touring exhibition, and program series called “Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births.” Previously she worked at MoMA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Guggenheim Museum. New Jersey-based Dana Naberezny is Vice President of the Jewelry Design and Innovation Workshop and Chief Innovation Officer of jewelry at Tiffany & Co. The workshop she leads mixes craftsmanship with advanced technologies that allow designers, jewelers, and engineers to collaborate seamlessly. Prior to Tiffany & Co. she led product development at David Yurman and Movado, overseeing research and development, engineering, prototyping, and sourcing. Heath Wagoner is an artist, master silversmith, and industrial designer creating fine tableware and jewelry from his DUMBO atelier. Holding an MFA in Industrial Design from SVA, where he teaches advanced prototyping, Heath bridges traditional bench metalsmithing with generational manufacturing, collaborating with artisanal foundries across Rhode Island, Italy, and Portugal. He has consulted for Tiffany & Co., Bottega Veneta, Pamela Love and more, and was a featured live artisan at Homo Faber. Camille Okhio is a New York–based writer, curator, and historian. Her work has appeared in Apartamento, W, Architectural Digest, The New York Times, Art in America, Vogue and more. She is recognized for her ability to contextualize design within broader discussions around history and culture. She has held speaking engagements and participated in critiques at Aspen Art Museum, Noguchi Museum, Columbia University and more. Her work centers on fine and decorative arts and their narrative potential.