AMALGAM | FEATURED ARTIST — VALERIA BENALCÁZAR SOLA As part of our ongoing editorial series highlighting selected artists from AMALGAM: Contemporary Jewellery in Hybrid Systems, we introduce Valeria Benalcázar — an Ecuadorian contemporary jewellery artist and designer whose practice explores the transformative possibilities of matter. With a background in art restoration and an MA in Jewellery from Birmingham City University, Valeria brings together traditional craftsmanship, scientific curiosity and experimental material research. Her fascination with organic structures, microscopic life and vital cycles informs a practice where jewellery becomes a space for investigating how materials grow, react, mutate and transform. Experimentation lies at the heart of her process. Silver and gemstones meet organic elements, polymers and biomaterials, creating hybrid forms suspended between the natural and the artificial, permanence and ephemerality. Each material test becomes part of a living ...