At the recent Internationale Handwerksmesse (IHM) – International Trade Fair for Crafts and Design – held in Munich, Germany, Chinese artists Wei Zixin and Wang Zhipeng were awarded the Bavarian State Prize for Crafts and the Herbert Hofmann Prize respectively. These are two of the most prestigious international honors in contemporary jewelry art.

This marks the first time in history that Chinese artists have won both top awards simultaneously. The two prize-winning pieces were created under the framework of Lin Lang: The Chinese Story of Contemporary Jewelry – An International Touring Exhibition, a project supported by the National Arts Fund of China and organized by the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA).

Founded in 1949, the Internationale Handwerksmesse (IHM) Munich is one of Europe’s largest and longest-standing professional trade fairs dedicated to crafts and design. A series of internationally renowned events has evolved around the fair, most notably SCHMUCK, the world’s premier contemporary jewelry exhibition. For decades, SCHMUCK has been recognized as the most authoritative and influential international platform in the contemporary jewelry field.

Figure 1. The Internationale Handwerksmesse (IHM), Munich, Germany

Figure 2. The venue of the Internationale Handwerksmesse (IHM) in Munich, Germany

Wei Zixin Wins 2026 Bavarian State Prize for The Unbearable Lightness

Established by the Government of the Free State of Bavaria, the Bavarian State Prize (Bayerischer Staatspreis) has been presented annually at the IHM since 1952. As one of Germany’s most distinguished official craft awards, it recognizes exceptional accomplishments in design innovation, craftsmanship excellence and material experimentation.

Selected by an international professional jury, the award includes a gold medal, an official certificate and a grant from the Bavarian State Government. Wei’s winning work was chosen from the exhibited pieces at SCHMUCK 2026. This is also the first time the Bavarian State Prize for Crafts has been awarded to a Chinese artist.

Figure 3. Tobias Gotthardt, State Secretary and Member of the German Bundestag, presents the 2026 Bavarian State Prize for Crafts to Wei Zixin. The award was received on behalf of the artist by Liang Xiao, founder of Gallery Loupe (Beijing), and Liu Xiao, Head of the Jewelry Program at the School of Design, CAFA.

Figure 4．Exhibition view of Wei Zixin’s award-winning work at the 2026 Bavarian State Prize for Crafts | Photo © Xie Wanying

Figures 5 & 6. Wei Zixin’s The Unbearable Lightness series

Wang Zhipeng Wins 2026 Herbert Hofmann Prize for Gambling Stone

The Herbert Hofmann Prize (Herbert-Hofmann-Preis) is one of the oldest and most influential awards in the field of contemporary jewelry. Named after Herbert Hofmann, the art historian and founder of the Munich contemporary jewelry exhibition SCHMUCK, the prize is awarded annually during the Munich International Trade Fair for Crafts. Winners are selected by a professional jury from among the artists participating in the SCHMUCK exhibition of that year.

For the 2026 edition of SCHMUCK, 1,046 applications from 68 countries were submitted worldwide. From these, 69 artists from 29 countries were selected to participate in the exhibition. The jury ultimately chose three prize winners: Wang Zhipeng (China), Mira Kim (South Korea), and Ela Bauer (Poland).

Figure 7. SCHMUCK MÜNCHEN, the Munich International Exhibition of Contemporary Jewelry, founded in 1959

Figure 8．Barbara Schmidt, Director of the Department of Craft Culture at the Chamber of Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria, introduces Wang Zhipeng, recipient of the 2026 Herbert Hofmann Prize, and his artistic concept.
Photo © Xie Wanying

Figure 9. Exhibition view of Wang Zhipeng’s award-winning work at the 2026 Herbert Hofmann Prize | Photo © Xie Wanying

Figures 10 & 11. Wang Zhipeng’s Gambling Stone series

Drawing from traditional Chinese cultural concepts and contemporary jade consumption phenomena respectively, the two artists explore the themes of material and value from distinctive perspectives.

Wei Zixin’s work uses jadeite to form two delicate, looping threads, symbolizing the Chinese philosophical view of “the endless cycle of life.” Its slender, fragile structure endows the piece with a ritual-like quality, embodying the poetic tension of “the unbearable lightness of being.”

Wang Zhipeng takes the cultural phenomenon of “jade gambling” as his creative thread. By reconstructing the relationship between jade off-cuts, gold and pearls, he critically reflects on the obsession with a monolithic value system in the jade market.

Both award-winning works originate from “Lin Lang: The Chinese Story of Contemporary Jewelry – An International Touring Exhibition,” a 2025 International Exchange and Promotion Project supported by the National Arts Fund of China.

The awards not only recognize the artistic achievements of the participating artists, but also reflect the growing international attention and influence of contemporary Chinese jewelry practice as presented through this project.

Through contemporary jewelry as an artistic medium closely connected to the human body and everyday life, the project transforms traditional cultural resources—such as Chinese jade culture—into forms of contemporary artistic expression. In doing so, it offers a new approach to promoting cultural dialogue and mutual understanding between China and the international community, while presenting a diverse and multidimensional image of Chinese culture.

Project Overview

“Lin Lang: The Chinese Story of Contemporary Jewelry – An International Touring Exhibition” is a 2025 National Arts Fund International Exchange and Promotion Project, organized by the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA).

The project is specially sponsored by Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, and jointly organized by the School of Design of CAFA, CLOSER Gallery (Beijing), Gallery Shanghai (Munich), and Schütt Company (Pforzheim).

From March to May 2025, the exhibition presents more than 100 jewelry works by Chinese and international artists across three exhibition venues in two German cities, establishing an international platform for dialogue and exchange in contemporary jewelry.

Taking Chinese jade culture as its conceptual starting point, the exhibition invites artists from different cultural backgrounds to engage in cross-cultural creation and dialogue, exploring diverse approaches to materials, concepts, and cultural expression in contemporary jewelry.

The project also introduces an experimental “Jade Blind Box” creation mechanism, in which donated jade materials are randomly distributed to participating artists. By introducing chance and uncertainty into the creative process, the project explores new modes of artistic and cultural production.

Project Director：

Teng Fei

Core Project Team：

Liu Xiao, Liang Xiao, Liu Yang, Sun Yuxi, Wang Zhipeng, Zhang Fan, Wang Tianning, Li Yi, Wei Zixin

Figure 12. Visual design for Lin Lang: The Chinese Story of Contemporary Jewelry International Exhibition | Design: Wang Tianning

Figure 13. Exhibition scene in Pforzheim, May 2025: Tang Liwen, Cultural Consul of the Chinese Consulate General in Frankfurt, exchanges views with Prof. Teng Fei, Academic Director of the exhibition and Professor at CAFA.

Figure 14. Group photo of exhibition guests (from left):

David Feulner, Director of Schütt Exhibition Hall; Prof. Teng Fei, Academic Director of the exhibition and Professor at CAFA; Tang Liwen, Cultural Consul of the Chinese Consulate General in Frankfurt; Claudia Baumbusch, Art Historian, Representative of the Pforzheim City Department of Culture; Alan Chen , Chief Brand Officer of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group; Prof. Christine Lüdeke, Head of the Jewelry Graduate Program, Faculty of Design, Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences