PRESS RELEASE: Kostin’s Lab presented ALLOYED VISIONS at Barcelona Design Week 2026

Alloy developer Kostin’s Lab showed five jewellery and art projects created with contemporary designers, each exploring how new metal alloys could shape form, structure and meaning.

Kostin’s Lab, the family-run laboratory that develops alloys for jewellery and fashion accessories, presented ALLOYED VISIONS at BUAT Gallery in Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella from 14 to 18 October 2026, as part of Barcelona Design Week.

The exhibition was also part of OFF Enjoia’t, the parallel programme to A-FAD’s Enjoia’t, which takes contemporary jewellery into galleries and cultural spaces across Barcelona as a city-wide platform for experimentation and new approaches to the discipline.

The show brought together work by designers Tatyana Kholodnova, Beatriz Biaggi, Emilio Narducci and Inna Cheskidova. Each collaboration took a different approach to form, structure, tactility and material, showing how innovative alloys could become an active part of contemporary jewellery and art.

The title reflected the exhibition’s dual nature: it referred both to the proprietary alloys developed by Kostin’s Lab and to the meeting of different creative visions. The laboratory contributed its materials, technical expertise and production experience, while each designer brought their own concept and artistic language.

The works

THE ILLUSION OF ANTIGRAVITY – Tatyana Kholodnova
Kholodnova presented four pieces inspired by cosmic phenomena: the rings SINGULARITY and THE EVENT HORIZON, the mismatched earrings ATTRACTION AND REPULSION, and the transformable brooch-pendant STAR SUBLIMATION. In each, a single continuous line formed the complex three-dimensional upper part of the jewel. These large but lightweight structures were made possible by PalladinGold™ 950, a palladium-based alloy containing 95% palladium, chosen for its hardness, strength and resistance to deformation.

TOUCH – Beatriz Biaggi
Biaggi’s necklace explored peace as a state of heightened awareness. Against a world of noise, speed and constant stimulation, it invited the wearer to reconnect with touch, movement and the sense of the body in space. Made from Purentum™ 960 with rose-gold plating and a leather choker, it set up a tactile dialogue between the jewellery, the body and its surroundings.

PRISON OF LIGHT – Emilio Narducci
Narducci’s collection reflected on love, passion and mystery. Its cage-like structure both held and protected the stone within, which, according to the legend that accompanied the piece, changed colour in the presence of true love, from the blue of serenity to the purple of intense passion. The collection was made in Purentum™ 960, an alloy that combines a high silver content with the strength needed to support and protect the delicate iridescent stone.

WAIHILAU – Emilio Narducci
Narducci’s second piece, the WAIHILAU ring, captured the essence of cascading water. Its centrepiece was a vibrant nanosital gemstone surrounded by moissanites, set in Purentum™ 960. The design spoke to the duality of water, its gentle flow and its raw power.

PARASITE – Inna Cheskidova
Cheskidova’s research-based art project explored intrusive thoughts and inner states that take over the present moment. It drew on a study in which 38 respondents described intrusive thoughts as a physical presence, through shape, movement, smell, bodily sensation and the ways they interacted with them. At the centre of each object was a white ceramic drop, representing the present moment as the “host”. Elements made from Kostin’s Lab alloys gave physical form to the “parasite”. Rather than acting as settings or decoration, the metals worked on the ceramic, wrapping around it, piercing it, pressing on it, splitting it and displacing its form. The project asked whether it is possible to stay in the present once the parasite has arrived.

Material as artistic language

Throughout ALLOYED VISIONS, the alloy was treated as more than a technical base: its properties determined the structure, scale, tactility and expressive character of each work. The exhibition presented Kostin’s Lab not only as a developer of jewellery alloys but as a technical and creative partner for designers, showing the new forms that can emerge where materials science, jewellery technology and artistic vision meet.

About Kostin’s Lab

Kostin’s Lab is a family-run laboratory developing innovative alloys for jewellery and fashion accessories. Founded by Sergey Kostin, it combines technical research, production expertise and collaboration with designers to turn unconventional ideas into material form. Its international activities are led by director Anna Kostina, the founder’s daughter.

Find out more: kostinslab.net

Image credits

The Illusion of Antigravity (2019) by Tatyana Kholodnova, based on an idea by artist-jeweller Felix Kuznetsov. PalladinGold™ 950 by Kostin’s Lab, diamonds, sapphires, nanosital. Photos: Andrey Saprin

Prison of Light (2024) by Emilio Narducci, shown in daylight and under UV light. Purentum™ 960 by Kostin’s Lab, UV colour-changing nanosital. Photos: Andrey Saprin

Waihilau (2025) by Emilio Narducci. Purentum™ 960 by Kostin’s Lab, cubic zirconia, nanosital. Photos: Light Catchers; Ksenia Zhivaeva (on model)

Touch (2025) by Beatriz Biaggi. Purentum™ 960 by Kostin’s Lab, rose-gold plating. Photos: Light Catchers; Ksenia Zhivaeva (on model)

Parasite (2026) by Inna Cheskidova. Porous ceramic, Purentum™ 960 by Kostin’s Lab. Photos: Inna Cheskidova

BUAT Gallery. Photo: BUAT Gallery