Christopher Earl Milbourne has been announced the winner of the Australian 2012 National Contemporary Jewellery Award which has been judged biennially at the Griffith Regional Art Gallery since 1988.

Attracting entries from some of best contemporary Australian designers, the Award is sponsored by Griffith City Council with the winners now being acquired into the National Contemporary Jewellery Collection.

Milbourne won the top award with an amazing brooch titled Megasilo with Overbearing Management Quarters which embodies the artist’s signature fusion technique. Consisting of a brooch and stand, Milbourne’s creation has been stripped back from its once complex structure leaving a precious remnant of the artist’s original form.

The Sturt Centre for Contemporary Design residency award went to Amy Zubick whose platinum and white gold ring titled Saturation plays with the concept of saturation.  According to the website of Sydney based jewellery gallery Metalab, “Through its complex and delicate design, this piece comments upon commercial adornment within the contemporary world.”

Kaoru Rogers was awarded a solo exhibition at Metalab, Sydney for her entry The Mushroom.  Shaped from stark, folded and blackened steel beads, Kaoru’s necklace explores the idea of an atomic cloud. This piece reflects the fear, frustration, helplessness and devastation Kaoru experienced at the time of the Fukushima disaster.

Metalab, one of Sydney’s premier contemporary jewellery galleries, will be exhibiting the finalists shortlisted for the National Contemporary Jewellery Award for 2012 until the 27^th of October. Featuring over 28 unique pieces, this exhibition is a celebration of the craft of contemporary Australian jewellery.

Founded in 2005 in Sydney Australia by Cesar and Nina Cueva, Metalab is a collaborative of metalsmiths and designers with a shared philosophy for embracing contemporary methodologies whilst practicing time-honoured techniques.

The National Contemporary Jewellery Award 2012 will be held at Metalab from 4th - 27th October 2012

Click the slideshow to see the top designs from the 2012 Australian National Contemporary Jewellery Award