GZ Art+Design Spots 2006 2

Haute Couture Deluxe

Any woman wearing this magnificent cocktail dress doesn't need any other jewelry. After the luxury pearl brand Schoeffel and the Berlin-based fashion label Unrath & Strano launched initial business relations, they decided to extend their collaboration to their summer collect on in 2006. The two designers Klaus Unrath and Ivan Strano, celebrated for iconic and glamorous creations, thought up something especially exclusive for the new season. Their corsage dress made out of beige snake taffeta is hand-embroidered with genuine Tahiti and freshwater cultured pearls in various natural colors and shapes. www.schoeffel-gmbh.comwww.unrath-strano.com * cete

Sissy - Probably the Largest Pearl in Europe

Noble in size and beauty, the name of the Austrian Empress Sissy is ideally suited to this pearl. At 92.7 ct and with a diameter of 34.4 x 32.1 mm, its format is truly majestic. The silvery-white, cultured South Sea pearl developed off the coast of Indonesia, growing over a number of years inside a Pinctada Maxima, which can reach up to 30 cm in size and 5 kg in weight. In 2005 it was acquired by Jorg Gellner. Today, the proud owners of Sissy are the Köck family of Viennese jewelers, who are proud that this unique pearl bears a name that matches its new Austrian home. Sissy is a prizeless legend and the pearl bearing her name has a similarly high value: potential purchasers will have to pay upwards of 60,000 euros for the privilege of owning it. * ahe

Finland's Offspring

Established in 2000, the 125th anniversary year of the Finnish society of crafts and Design, the "Desgn Forum Finland's Young Designer of the Year" prize is being awarded for the fifth time in 2006. The recipients of this year's prize are industrial designer Jukka Korpihete, student of arts, and furniture designer Mikko Paakkanen, student of arts, both studying at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki. The purpose of the prize is to encourage young designers to engage in uncompromising original work in the fields of graphic design, interior architecture, applied art, crafts and industrial design and to present them to the public. The prize jury (keeper Jukka Savolainen, designer Ilkka Suppanen, head of exhibitions Merja Pylkkänen and CEO Ilpo Santala) noted that the prize winners high-quality work represents innovative young Finnish design combining individual creativity with a language of form reinforced by international influences. www.designforum.fi * cete

monomania - Stainless Steel Classics

Jewelry and accessories from monomania are modern stainless steel classics. Steel is still a relatively young metal in jewelry having moved across from the engineering sector. It is therefore fitting that the puritanical forms bear the hallmark of industrial designers. The material and its properties are presented firmly in the foreground. The hardness and stability of steel enable completely new forms of jewelry design to be achieved. The collections of the German brand place emphasis upon technical precision of workmanship, offering novel, of ten surprising solutions. The designers also combine stainless steel with classic jewelry materials such as yellow gold, pearls, diamonds and many more. The contrasting effect of these compositions can be seen in the pearl ring that made an appearance this spring. The warm luster of the cultured pearls offers an attractive contrast to the hard, bright sheen of the metal. The design is somewhat reminiscent of a ball bearing, a highly fem nine interpretation of a technical idea. Monomania adheres to the basic principle of developing jewelry and accessories that are exclusive, deliberately simple and pure in quality. The designs are not only intended to stand out for a season, they are destined to be, one timeless, classics. www.monomania.de * ahe

Formabina Wins if Product Design Award 2006

The young Swiss designer Bettina Geistlich designs and manufactures high-quality jewelry from platinum, gold and silver under the formabina label. Two pieces of her jewelry have now received the prestigious iF Product Design Award 2006. A bracelet from the "trema" line and a ring from the "vimina" product line met the approval of the international jury at the iF International Forum Design in Hanover. The trema line, comprising bracelets and rings, is a contemporary combination of strict geometric form and a sensual wearing experience. Two or three flat, meandering bands entwine intricately in one another. Each band is flexible enough to permit slight movement against the others whilst being worn, thus creating a gentle ringing sound. The jewelry is made from gold or platinum. The rings of the vimina line are characterized by the interaction between flexibility and stability, lightness and heaviness. A fine gold strand winds evenly over two, three or four levels, forming a weave that has neither beginning nor end. Cores of gold or blackened silver provide stability for the winding of the gold strand, without restricting the freedom of its naturally flowing movement. formabina@bluewin.ch * ahe

Smoke-Free and Unique

There are good reasons why the signet rings by Petra Giers look like the affectionately designed tax seals that good quality cigars have around their bellies. Petra Giers is a German master goldsmith and designer who replicated the multi-colored papers in what she terms her tax seal signet rings. The special thing about them is the fact that they are unique since the wearer can assemble each ring individually in a building kit. The wearer selects the actual ring from four gold alloys or platinum and then she chooses her favorite stone from a selection of eight ranging from a green jade through faceted mountain crystal right down to onyx or garnet. That forms the center of this piece of jewelry and it can even have a single initial or symbol with a selection of four different types of lettering. The most individual part of the ring is a brief text or personal motto that is hand-engraved and surrounds the initial in a circle. Smoking was never more fun! www.petragiers.de * cete

Letter from Florence

A letter from Estin Julia Maria Pihlak, the winner of the 2005 RHH Scholarship describes her experience at the school of her choice, Alchimia in Florence, Italy: "Last summer on the longest day of the year, the Estonian Victory Day, I had the honor to receive the scholarship of Dr Ruth Reisert-Hafner in Pforzheim. The scholarship was meant to support self-improvement at a training institution in Europe. After the cooperation exhibition "Twilight" (students of Alchimia and the Estonian Academy of Arts) in Florence and seeing this beautiful town of Renaissance and the 'esoteric' school Alchimia I had no doubt about using my scholarship in that school. Subconsciously looking for a different experience, another kind of approach I am still surprised by the alchemy of the school. The sun, brighter and more intensive here, is affecting my style as it has affected artists here for many, many centuries. The statues at town squares and the movement of the human body in Renaissance sculptures or the frescos in the chapels, the landscape of olive trees and cypresses are taking over my mind. After being in Florence for some months, I am happy to let this alchemy happen to me in this spring of 2006, half a thousand years after Renaissance in this town of alchemy." www.alchimia.it * cete

The Unity of Industry and Landscape

Taking a stroll through the abandoned lignite mine near Lauchhammer in the Lusatia region of Germany, the student Karoline Peisker (whose name was Finke earlier) was inspired to make a special line of jewelry: six miniatures (brooches) made of sheet brass and gold wire tell the tale of an abandoned mine. Ms. Peisker, a student at the Burg Giebichenstein Art School, explains her ideas. "I created 'the Excavator' inspired by the photograph of a landscape with a conveyor belt. I wanted to design a frame that lets you see the traces time had left on its crooked construction. Thin golden sheets mark the borders and put the rhythm and direction of the gold wires into a specific order. The Excavator was crafted of pure gold to symbolize the treasures that it once conveyed out of the depths of the earth. A construction mounted of gold wire is added to the 'House' crafted of sheet brass." Karoline Peisker describes another motif. "With my 'Industrial Landscape,' I tried to illustrate the unity of industry and landscape. I structured the landscape with a broken-line engraving and cut it tightly around the building." karolinepeisker@web.de * ahe

Fire Beneath the Ice

It was a combination of the exciting topic of the competition and the ongoing fascination with the legendary Tahiti cultured pearls that provided the inspiration for the international designers from 47 countries participating in the fourth Tahitian Pearl Trophy. Perles de Tahiti invited visitors to Baselworld to its stand in Hall 3 to view the original, humorous and, above all, precious creations that resulted. No other pearl incites jewelry designers to such varied creative ideas as Tahitian cultured pearls, originating in the lagoons of French Polynesia. Their wealth and range of colors is sensational: the so-called "black pearls" not only shimmer in all nuances of anthracite and gray, they also manifest shades ranging from peacock green, aubergine, copper brown to sea blue, in shape variations from perfectly spherical to oval, droplet or pear shapes. The motto of the competition was "Fire and ica", with the international jewelry designers submitting their creative work in a range of different categories (from rings and necklaces to brooches and accessories). In the ring category, first prize was awarded to the goldsmith David Thomas Rust from Romanshorn for his ring Vulcano. Like a volcanic eruption, the immaculate Tahiti pearl hovers above a platinum cone, decorated with "magma traces" of yellow-orange sapphires. In contrast, the ring track is worked from ultra light, white acrylic glass. Winner in the accessories category was Swiss goldsmith Thomas Schafroth. His golden stilettos, finished with perfectly round Tahiti pearls, yellow gold, silver and zirconias, would challenge Manolo Blahnik's famous originals as objects of female desire. www.perlesdetahiti.net/tahitian-pearl-trophy/en/815html * cete

High-Quality Water

Jiang is the name of the third piece of jewelry commissioned by the Platinum Guild International on the theme of water and platinum. Jiang, meaning something akin to river, does honor to its name. Calm, but also full of dynamic forces, it's a piece of jewelry that flows like a cascade around the neck of the person wearing ti both into her neckline and over her shoulders. This necklace by Chu Wai On from Luk Fook Holdings (International) Limited in Hong Kong is worked from 1,500 shimmering drops of platinum, making it a symbol of the beauty, elegance and irresistibility of water while embodying the values that make platinum jewelry what it is: its rarity, purity and eternity. www.pgiglobal.com * cete

Discover Your Options

Deja vu is a watch for all occasions, whether the destination is the opera or the discotheque. This fashionable timepiece can be given a whole new appearance in just a few moves, ensuring that it matches every outfit. The heartbeat of this designer watch is a Swiss movement, around which women can create their own individual watch, with attachable bezels and straps. Whether elegant or casual, over 800 attachable decorative disks and a wide range of watch straps and clips mean that there are several thousand possible combinations to lend the watch the appearance to match the occasion. The current range of decorative disks includes designs in silver, stainless steel, mother-of-pearl, glass, gemstone, wood, aluminum, tombac, plastic, felt and a good deal more. www.dejavu.de * ahe

The Results of the 7th Jewelry Design Competition in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) announced the results of the 7th Hong Kong Jewelry Design Competition at the end of February at the Hong Kong International Jewelry Show. These pieces were exhibited at the show in Hong Kong at the beginning of March. Students and designers submitted more than 300 designs on the themes of Radiant Hong Kong and Capriccioso. Kwan Chok Kai, Au Kwok Man and Chu Shuk Mei won the main prizes. The goldsmith Luk Fook Jewelry with the designer Au Yee Wa was awarded the prize for crafts and technical work. * ahe

Swarm Intelligence as the Testing Grounds for Creative people

The Hamburg-based Trend Office and Spiegel Online have created Design Klick as a virtual space for pictures where laypersons can discover aesthetical trends like experts and do their bit to prove that groups are more intelligent than single persons. Design Klick is right on target because bloggers exchange ideas in the web, surfers collectively write an internet encyclopedia and young computer gamesters exchange experience on how to invent their own on-line games. There's even an emerging branch of research called "Schwarmintelligenz" that tries to model intricate networked software systems on anthills and flocks of birds. Actually, it's a simple idea: while the behavioral possibilities of a single ant are limited, the anthill with its thousands of members functions according to amazingly intelligent patterns. The Hamburg-based Trend Office wants to join forces with Spiegel Online to find out whether a number of individual judgments of laypersons taken altogether can arrive at more interesting outcomes than single expert judgments. From now on, all work regularly made public on this homepage by professional photographs, designers and architects will be given the adjective they think hits the mood or aesthetics of the picture. The users can check it out, see if the information is interesting and whether they can make out coming trends. http://designklicks.spiegel.de * ahe

The Master of the Furies in Frankfurt

The Master of the Furies is an ivory sculpture of breathtaking grandeur and expressiveness made in or about 1600. There is little known about its creator, but since the sculpture is dominated by furies, it was given the name of the Master of the Furies. This precious material preserves dramatic moments between life and death with master craftsmanship and stunning details. What the true name of the Master of the Furies was, when he was born, where he learned his craft and worked in it, who he was working for and where he got his unmistakable inspiration from mannerism is one of the great mysteries of art history. With the exception of a couple of inventories, there are no sources to be found, but 25 works are attributed to him or his workspace. The Liebieghaus exhibition hall is showcasing 18 of them in an exhibition that gives this artist recognition, albeit four centuries late, for his creative works. Few people appreciated his art in previous periods and treated his pieces inventoried in the Art History Museum in Vienna with disdain. They will still be on show in the Liebieghaus exhibition hall in Frankfurt, Germany until July 9th. www.liebieghaus.de * ahe

WMF - More than Cutlery

WMF - the name of the metal goods factory in Württemberg in Germany is iconic for top-drawer cutlery and utensils for the "fine set table". What only is known to collectors and specialists these days is the fact that WMF made a significant contribution to the history of design in the 20's and 30's with its New Arts and Crafts Department (NKA). The lkora metal objects were created with chemical and thermal metal coloration and refinement, and what they make stand out are their luminous colors and virtually inexhaustible design. They chimed in with international trends at that time and they can even still be found in the art trade. Now, for the first time, an article has been published on this topic that is destined to become an exhaustive reference work for lkora metal objects with several hundred illustrations and a highly informative glossary Beyond this, a complete documentation of all of the sales catalogs of WMF lkora metalwork published between 1927 and the 605 not only makes it possible to cross-reference objects to designers, but also to determine the time period they come from. * cete

Bejeweled by Tiffany

Bejeweled by Tiffany, 1837-1981, the most comprehensive exhibition of Tiffany jewelry ever mounted, will introduce Great Britain to the rich history of the jewelry of the American company Tiffany & Co.. It will take place at the Gilbert Collection, Somerset House, London WC1, from Saturday, 24 June to Sunday, 26 November 2006. Some 180 glittering pieces from the Tiffany Archive, together with a small selection of jewels loaned from private collections, will chronicle Tiffany's first 150 years. Many of these works have never before been on public display. Now famous for its glamour, creative design and fine craftsmanship, Tiffany & Co. was founded in New York in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812-1902). Starting modestly as a "Fancy Goods" store on Broadway, it quickly rose to international fame, its jewelry winning medals and stunning the world at the great international exhibitions of the 19th century Tiffany has always been a unique brand combining an appreciation of European fashions with an original and distinctively American aesthetics. www.oilbert-collectjon.org.uk * ahe

Clasp - Jewelers Education and Networking Conference

Clasp is an innovative new conference recently announced by Rio Grande - distributor of jewelry tools and equipment - and its advisory partners Bench Media, Ganoksin (parent to the Orchid Forums), Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America (MJSA) and The Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG). This year's Clasp conference will take place in Nashville, Tennessee from September, 15-17 and will be an education and networking conference specifically designed to serve small manufacturers, metalsmiths, designing jewelers and bench jewelers. Clasp wants to enable jewelry-makers to step outside their daily routines and to invest in professional development and interpersonal connections. Clasp will present topics in three theme tracks: muse, method and money. Offerings in the muse track will help each jewelry-maker tap more effectively into their creativity by inspiring them with compelling ideas for nourishing the creative center. Offerings in the method track will enhance jewelry making skills at all levels. Offerings in the money track will explore the business topics that are essential to jewelry-makers. Clasp will also offer special, limited-space sessions with industry experts. Rio Grande is helping with choosing the tracks and designing individual days. The conference will focus on education, networking, inspiration and growth. Therefore there will be, except for literature, no selling of wares at this event. For registration and further information please visit the following website: www.claspconvergence.com * cp

Architectural Jewelry by Philippe Tournaire

The artist Philippe Tournaire refers to himself as a jewelry sculptor. He takes inspiration for his unique wearable jewelry objects from architecture. His pieces have a tale to tell. Philippe Tournaire designs his jewelry like paintings, and constructs them like architectural monuments. Lately he introduced a watch called "The gates of time". This chronograph is made of 18 kt white or yellow gold with diamonds and a dial made of mammoth ivory. The edge of the case bears sculpted images of a variety of significant historical gates such as Stonehenge. www.philippetournaire.com * ahe

Prix Golay 2006 - Culture is a Jewel

What is culture? 62 young goldsmiths gave their answers to the question posed by the Prix Golay Competition on the theme of pearls and culture. And the persons competing in the 22nd edition of the Prix Golay transformed this theme into imaginative creations to show how many-faceted this concept is. For instance, you can interpret culture as drinking and eating manners or the finest arts and literature, as the special nature of various peoples or as cultures that we get cultured pearls from. All of the persons competing received a South Seas cultured pearl for their interpretation from Golay.

The extraordinary creations were honored based on how much they met the challenge set, originality, wearing comfort and technical execution including the subjective judgment of the members of the independent jury and the festive award ceremony took place at the Baselworld show. First prize went to Aurélie Ledesma for her Pearl and Digital Culture creation, a necklace that links a magnificent South Seas cultured pearl (as the symbol of dreaming) and a USB key (as the symbol of digital culture) via gold, silver and silicon. This balanced combination of colors and the crystal-clear design are amplified by the contrast of the polished yellow gold areas with the filigree structure in silver that are quoted again on the hand-crafted clasp. If you remove the USB key for its technical function, you can tilt the top of the pendant by 180 degrees, which brings a small brilliant to light. The pendant closes around the second silicon cord and the pearl visually moves into the foreground.

Charlotte Cochet received the Conceptual Prize for her ring entitled Harmonically Kitschy. This ring combines simple design and kitsch in two contrary artistic forms that are setting the pace for modern society. Nicole Grüninger received the special prize for her hair jewelry called Motion and Dance. Every culture has its own folk dances and she was inspired by her girlfriend's hair whipping back and forth when dancing. Finally, Renaud Monnier received the Technology Prize for his outstanding functional interpretation. His egg machine is used for the culture of life cells for all kinds of creatures. Attention is focused on the pearl as the symbol of natural growth, first of all when you look at it through the porthole and then when the capsule is opened to set it completely free. www.golav.com * ahe

Soul of Brazil Showcased in GIA's New Brazilian Jewelry Collection

GIA has created its first international jewelry collection, which highlights the spirit and soul of Brazilian jewelry and showcases both traditional and contemporary designs. Featuring pieces from Brazil's top designers and manufacturers, the GIA Museum will debut the collection at the Institute's Collection Booth during the 2006 AGTA GemFair in Tucson. It will also be displayed in the AGTA Pavilion at the Las Vegas JCK show in June Long known for its abundance of fine gemstones, Brazil is emerging as a source of innovative jewelry design worldwide, said Director of In-Kind Gifts Patricia Syvrud, who lived in Brazil more than 10 years ago. She became inspired by the country's creative jewelry and has built the collection with the support of the industry and the Brazilian Institute of Gems and Precious Metals (IBGM). Renowned Brazilian designer Ruth Grieco helped inspire the idea for the collection after archiving her contemporary, handmade tourmaline cross pendant and gold necklace with GIA. Cathrine Clarke, also a well-known Brazilian jeweler, has been helpful in expanding the collection, both through introductions to other designers and her personal contribution of a multicolor gold and eroded watermelon tourmaline brooch/ring. More pieces from Brazil followed. Longtime GIA supporter and Brazilian retailer Daniel Andre Sauer, Director of Amsterdam Sauer, is participating with his historical "Constellation Ring", an award-winning South American-designed piece. Hans Stern, President of internationally recognized H. Stern Jewelers, Inc., included an Art Nouveau-classical fusion style brooch, set with a 55 carat aquamarine and 38 diamonds in 18 karat white gold. The piece represents a classic Brazilian design characteristic of the 1960s. www.gia.edu * ahe