All that glisters has got to be silver

Gold is sooooo five minutes ago, they say

Gold is sooooo five minutes ago, they say. The jewellery designers on view at the Design Yard in Temple Bar are clear about the in styles.

"Gold is taboo," says Sean Osborne, "Everything is white gold or platinum."

Yes, Anthony Carey from Ballinagore in Co Westmeath is working with vitreous enamels, seed pearls and crocheting chains (as in spool knitting). His upcoming range will be "Moulin Rouge, decadent, in-your-face".

Silver is centre stage this season. There was music (Verdi), vodka and victuals at a party to celebrate the opening of Silver, an exhibition of jewellery by 90 designers at the Design Yard.

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Erika Marks said she was into "very plain shapes". She is currently preparing for the National Craft Fair in the RDS for Christmas. Work by Fiona Thornton, from Dundalk, is "based on modernism and contemporary simplicity". Fiona Mulholland, a sculptor, is already working on a two-tonne bronze "tower of inflated life-jackets" for D·n Laoghaire, to be installed next June.

Two keen-eyed New Yorkers with a particular interest in jewellery, Cindy Edelstein and her friend Marlene Richey, were there to see the latest Irish designs.

The young and vibrant design duo Virginia Macari and Anthony Brennan were there too, full of talk about their move to London, where they kick off with a fashion show at Conrad Gallagher's new restaurant in January. Victoria Beckham, who spotted their styles when she was in Dublin and made contact with them, has promised she'll be there, they say, and they're delighted. Here's to their fame and fortune.

The show at DesignYard, which is a cultural and a commercial centre for designers, runs until Friday, December 21st.