About The Setting
The Setting began with a fascination for objects that remain alive through use, attention, continuity, and care.
Jewelry is rarely static. It is worn through ordinary days and important moments, repaired, inherited, adapted, and carried across different lives.
Objects are not just things.
They are carriers of memory.
The archive prioritizes thoughtful construction, emotional resonance, wearability, and material presence over spectacle or trend-driven consumption.
Collections are released intentionally in small thematic openings, while past pieces remain preserved within the archive as part of an evolving curatorial record.
Alongside antique and vintage works, The Setting also explores symbolism, craftsmanship, stewardship, and the histories objects accumulate through human life.
Symbolic Continuity
Jewelry has historically functioned as adornment, memory, symbolism, engineering, and emotional language simultaneously.
I do not source jewelry based solely on carat weight or brand names. I look for narrative resonance:
A ring from the 1920s that survived economic collapse.
A brooch from the 1950s that witnessed a family’s migration.
A Soviet-era Alexandrite that represents a fleeting moment of scientific wonder behind the Iron Curtain.
I am drawn to pieces that reward proximity and attention — objects that reveal themselves slowly through detail, texture, engineering, and atmosphere.
Beyond the Archive
My inquiry into how humans construct meaning extends beyond physical objects. Alongside The Setting, I also maintain the Living Lore Archive, an ongoing narrative art project exploring memory, symbolic encounters, and the fragments people carry through daily life.
These parallel practices—art and curation—are all rooted in a single question:
How do the fragments we choose to keep shape the whole of who we become?
The Specific
In a world of mass-produced trends and disposable goods, I believe in the power of the specific:
The specific stone that changes color in the light.
The specific handwritten line that comforts a stranger.
The specific memory that changes how you see your own life.
Every piece in The Setting is selected for its craftsmanship, its durability, and its silent story. My goal is to offer you an heirloom waiting for its next chapter—perhaps, with you.
— Daria Condor Curator & Narrative Systems Researcher, Thun, Switzerland