Erle Nemvalts (b. 1991) is an Estonian artist and storyteller who works mainly through the medium of jewellery.
Her creative practice focuses on human behavioural patterns and peculiarities. She is deeply interested in how jewellery relates to the body — how bodily presence generates meanings and opens up new perspectives.
In her work, Erle does not shy away from melancholy or darkness, yet she balances them with sarcasm and kitsch, introducing unexpected and multi-layered nuances. She invites the viewer to experience her inner world both physically and mentally, playing with contrasts between symbols and materials, where lightness meets weight, hope meets despair, and the dark merges with the romantic. Through this tension, she creates poetic yet charged works that invite reflection and emotion.
Erle sees herself primarily as a storyteller — she creates exhibitions and pieces that convey narratives, atmospheres, and emotional landscapes, while also taking on commissions that allow for personal dialogue and interpretation.
She holds a master’s degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts and is now dedicated to guiding a new generation of students.
Her work has been exhibited in Estonia, Portugal, Germany, France, Belgium, the United States, the Netherlands, and Hungary.
In 2019, she received the Young Jewellery Fund’s special grant, and in 2023, she was awarded the prize of the prestigious Marzee Gallery Graduate Show.
EDUCATION
2022 Hochschule Trier, Idar-Oberstein Campus, Department of Gemstone and Jewellery, Exchange studies
2018-2023 Estonian Academy of Art. Department of Jewellery and Blacksmithing MA
2013-2017 Estonian Academy of Art. Department of Jewellery and Blacksmithing BA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 ‘About love and othe stories’, A-Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2022 ‘Anatomy of anxiety’, Hop gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2020 ‘Sources of virtue’, A-Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2018 ‘Palju vett ja vähe kulda’, A-Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 ‘Radical softnes’, Igreja da Madalena, Lisbon, Lisbon Contemporary Jewellery Biennial
2024 ‘Soulmates’, Galerie Biró, Munich
2023 ‘Re:action’ Budabest Jewelry week
2023 Marzee Graduate Show 2023, Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen
2023 ‘Devotion jewellery’ at Melting Point Valencia, Museo Baños del Almirante, Valencia, Spain
2023 ‘Devotion jewellery’, Oratorio San Rocco, Padova, Italy
2022 ‘Précieux’, Galerie Rathaus Johannisthal, Berlin, Germany
2022 ‘Until Death Do Us Part’ at Brussels jewellery week, Syntra Brussels, Belgium
2022 ‘Until Death Do Us Part’ at Munich jewellery week, Werkstatt-Galerie Produzenten Galerie + Goldschmiede, Munich, Germany
2021 ‘Until Death Do Us Part’, Alliages organisation, Lille, France
2021 ‘Cold sweat’, Schools exhibition at Lisbon Contemporary Jewellery Biennial, Arco, Lisbon, Portugal
2021 ‘Fantasmagooria’, Tallinn Applied Arts Triennale satellite show, Sitsi factory, Tallinn, Estonia
2018 ‘I curse the day’, Pika Jala tower, Tallinn, Estonia
2017 ‘Heart exhibition’, A-Gallery,Tallinn, Estonia
2016 ‘Urban Loneliness’, Aegna island, Estonia
2016 ‘Cathexis’, Escuela superior de Arte y Diseño deValencia, Spain
2016 ‘Kafedra’, Narva Art Residency, Estonia
2015 ‘Hunt’, Telliskivi water tower,Tallinn, Estonia
2014 ‘Ferromenaalne’, Tallinn Art Gallery, Estonia
AWARDS
2023 Marzee Graduate Prize 2023
2020 Best vault room exhibition in A-Gallery
2019 Young Estonian Jewellery Award, special prize