About Us

Courtesy Tadema Gallery, London

The Association for the Study of Jewelry and Related Arts, LLC is an organization dedicated to the advancement of jewelry studies in schools, museums, and institutions of higher learning. It is also committed to the dissemination of knowledge to anyone who is interested in the history of jewelry. ASJRA takes a broad approach to the subject, seeking to understand and place jewelry within a variety of contexts, including from the ancient past to present day, the decorative arts, and fashion.

One of our most important activities is organizing an annual event as a forum for curators, academic historians, and scholars and artists to present new and interesting information about jewelry. Anyone who is interested in jewelry will enjoy attending. It's a chance to learn and network with people who collect, appraise, study and research jewelry history.

The co-directors of the event are:

Elyse Zorn Karlin is the founder and executive editor of Adornment Magazine. She is also the author of the definitive book on jewelry of the Arts & Crafts Movement, Jewelry and Metalwork in the Arts & Crafts Tradition and co-author of Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry. She is author of seven other books and a noted lecturer.


Yvonne J. Markowitz is the Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The first curatorship of its kind in America and is the editor of Adornment Magazine.

A frequent lecturer, she has published extensively in the area of ancient and contemporary jewelry and is the co-author of the books Artistic Luxury: Jewels from the House of Tiffany and Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry.