IDOL guide
This year’s edition of Budapest Jewelry Week brings artworks by the world’s most recognised jewelry designers to Hungary. Works by the pioneer artists of the last 40 years will be within reach, on display under the same roof. The exhibiting artists do not only showcase their technical expertise in their jewels, but also their innovative way of thinking, which has enabled jewelry to be considered equal to fine art. The show is entitled ‘IDOL’, and revolves around issues such as respect for the sense of commitment as well as the presentation of exemplary professional careers. This special occasion provides the chance for the visitors to receive an overview on the development of contemporary jewelry art from the second half of the 20th century until today.
Material: steel, enamelled copper
Concept: This work refers to the Gothic architecture and sculpture, the groined vault and the “foolish virgins”. Despite my deep awe, I took a more light-hearted perspective.
Material: gold 585, stainless steel, enamel
Concept: For me all my heroes are equal, quality is the only condition of their art. Black or white, hetro- or homo-sexual, famous or unknown. My heroes can be artists, composers, actors, singers, architects, designers, etc To express this opinion I made this very personal necklace. All my heroes in this case are man, when taking of their hair they still remained recognisable. When I tried to make a necklace with my woman heroes, I discovered that when taking of their hair nothing recognisable remained……. The photos are transfers with industrial enamel burned on stainless steel. The links are from gold.
Material: alutype, Silver, Diamonds
Concept: Look! Look closer!
The long exposure time (4 to 30sec.) of a wet plate collodion photography is somehow perceptible.
If you take your time looking at it, you can feel that a different kind of stillness has been transferred, an even stiller reality.
Material: steel, book
Concept: The work/composition Character is a character study. It describes through objects of who I am.
Material: silver, acrylic glass, pigment
Concept: Central are two orange elements. They are made with acrylic glass strips laminated onto each other in order to make a grid pattern inside the translucent material. These elements are set in broad frames made in silver filigree, which are also translucent. The space between the silver wires is coloured with red pigment, while the surface is brushed clean, showing the silver.
Material: silver (patinated), whitegold staples
Concept: And what changes when the cardboard isn’t actually cardboard?
With this artwork I materialise the ambiguity, the multifacetedness of presence, I want my work to show me something that is the truth, almost in a transcendental way.
It does not mean that I am capable of creating a work like that. Of course I will fail in the end, but I flirt with the potency to make a tangible something that is true.
Material: stainless steel, enamel
Concept: Traditional enamel painting techniques are newly interpreted to depict three dimensional geometries in an illusionary space which only exists in one´s own perception.
Material: steel wire, aluminium sheet, acrylic lacquer
Concept: “QUOTATION”
To speak about the objects I create is, first and foremost, to speak about my inspiration, my perception, my surroundings.
I live in a world shaped by culture, in a house designed by an architect, surrounded by pictures, sculptures and a library of books. I see nature and art as a source of inspiration.
It is not my intention to copy fine art, but to find an appropriate form of interpretation, of transformation and to implement it in metal. Alienation, colours, quotes are parts of my design concept, and thus a new plane comes into being.
In classical jewellery context my works are perceived as too alien, too large, to colourful. I like to treat traditional jewellery pieces with irony. The choice of material is secondary to my concept, to my idea.
My premise is for people to be able to wear the jewellery.
From the formal point of view, such pieces are more or less abstracted, are seldom worn as status symbols, but rather serve as a societal statement and symbolizes belonging to a certain group.
Material: acrylic, PVC, resin
Concept: "Peter Chang transforms scrapped, unrealistic plastic objects into jewels in a surprising way. His jewelry reflects on the cyclical circulation of birth, growth, decline and death. His works integrate various forms of change." Katalin Spengler
The jewellery comes from the private collection of Katalin Spengler.
Material: silver and acrylic painting
Concept: With these works he began to look for a connection with forms of popular expression, and that later he will also connect with the world of archeology and anthropology. It is an attempt to restore the bridges between contemporary jewelry and its origins related to a magical worldview of the world. A jewelry that was not banal and decorative, but carried the universal values of Art, also was in contact with the sphere of the spiritual, the inexplicable and the indefinable, and its language cannot be other than that of poetry. A poetry that makes it possible for contemporary jewelry to remain full of meaning, as were traditional jewelry and primitive body ornaments.
Material: chewing gum-interactive
Concept: In 1998 Ted Noten produced 'Chew Your Own Brooch' in which he provides you with a chewing kit. You chew your gum, return it to him and get back a replica brooch cast in silver or gold – a small sculpture fashioned by your mouth. Noten has given the chewer a creative influence on the end product and the anxiety of being an artist for a few minutes, tapping into the creative child within us and poking fun at our silliness.
You can watch the video here: www.tednoten.com/portfolio-items/chew-your-own-brooch/
Material: wood veneer, balsa wood, silver, brass
Concept: I was interested in being able to work with wood with a different and new process based on the principle of addition and not subtraction, almost an attempt to give to the material its essence back again.
Material: silver, enamel, crushed hematite and pearls, glimmer, lacquer, string
Concept: Maybe the most magical things on earth are often those things, one, at first sight, overlooks.
But sometimes it needs a second look to witness the spell and make it tangible for oneself.
My interest is our collective understanding and seeing habits in sense of value, in a material and in a sentimental manner in society.
Both indicators are mutually dependent, as we are used to see and categorize "things" with the cultural background and ones own references. If one common parameter is visually modified - a pearl or a gemstone gets crushed or pulverized and its usual appearance is changed, then it didn´t change its status, it just needs to be turned into another kind of self-understanding. Another approach is required to bring it to a new status, a different semantic level beside our collective understanding.
Material: silver, steel
Concept: "This work has a structural nature. There is a naked skeleton that outlines areas, its function would be similar to that of a three-dimensional map.
Some of these compositions are inspired by small ephemeral constructions of gardens.”
Material: brass, chrome-plated
Concept: One of the most important themes in my work is the opposition pair order/disorder. Since 2012, with the work series 'Fault lines', I have been dealing with this kind of theme, as I did in my latest work 'Out of line' a well in 2021.
Material: rock crystal, 18ct gold
Concept: The Delayed Reactions series is inspired by people wearing pin badges in reaction to political, social and personal events. Pin badges are of the moment, cheap and quick to make, lasting only as long as necessary to get the message across. Carving in stone is the opposite: it is slow and unpredictable and often with a limited palette. But these limitations are a good test of what remains, what surfaces in my thoughts after the dust has settled. ‘Troubled Times’ highlights the natural stresses and strains in rock crystal formation and was made in material empathy with the social and political turbulence of our times.
Material: silver, rose quartz, malachit, agate
Concept: "My approach to designing jewellery is very much based on the making, I love the processes and I love the materials involved, metals allow you to do certain things to them, andI keep testing what they allow me to do and what they are comfortable or uncomfortable with. When I start making, my brain also starts joining in and ideas evolve within the process and the pieces grow into whatI am thinking or not thinking at the moment, there is an important element of accident, getting excited and surprising myself involved.”
Material: silver, gold, renshape
Concept: We walk through the world with our feet, but we are not aware that our feet do more than merely transport us. Our feet are necessary tools, but also root us to the ground. I emphasize the awareness of my place as jewelry maker in the world of body and mind. Terram helps me to connect between the micro and macro cosmos, between the upper and the underworld. This Terram feet has 12 layers of gold leaf like Buddha’s in Eastern Azia Step on the ground.
Material: acryl, metal
Concept: This work expresses very well my position at the time: the choice of materials, such as plastic, and placing the piece of jewellery on a wall object when it is not worn. It was also my aim to integrate contemporary jewellery socially.
Material: glue, plastic, wool
Concept: Glue was one of the first new materials I worked with. It´s pretty much a goldsmith`s cheat material - you´re not really meant to use it, and if you do then very secretly. I needed to "unlearn" everything I´d learnt in my jewellery education. This training at Dunedin Art School in New Zealand, was based on traditional goldsmithing techniques. When we needed silver we had to melt our own granules and make a sheet or a wire. We did a lot of forging. I learnt a big respect for metal and its working processes. I made a lot of pieces just out of glue, bashing and squeezing it before it dried, scraping the drips off my table, embedding objects into it.
Material: bronze, diamond crystal, onyx, garnet, wool, thread
Concept: Still lifes and rebus are fascinating me – Jewelry as a picture puzzles.
And what possibilities can I develop beside its capacity of being wearable?
The works constantly are in the process of changing dimensions in-between drawing and sculpture. Jewelry as a 2-dimensional drawing on the 3-dimensional body.
"Stories and pictures - every day we put them through a filter.
And in this filter stays, what we have to retain."
Anton Chekhov
Material: fine gold, mixed media on cardboard
Concept: “The works by one of the most innovative jewelry artists of the world are stylistically inimitable. They are miniature sculptures that create a surreal or ethereal effect, present gold in its elemental simplicity and gorgeousness. His jewels are comprised in collages complemented with drawings and texts." Katalin Spengler
The jewellery comes from the private collection of Katalin Spengler.
Material: 750% (18 carat) gold
Concept: The Ancient Greeks said: O Mythos deloi, the Myth teaches. Myth, on the one hand, and Alchemy on the other, helped me understand what that quest was about: a hermetic journey into the unknown. I needed almost ten years to build self-confidence, knowledge and a clear vision on the matter. I had not been ready before. Doubtlessly, the curiosity was the main force that attracted me to this project. Probably an improvement in myself will be the reward.” The actual making of the gold fur presented many technical obstacles. It had taken me years of total dedication to overcome all the difficulties. Every single step in the process of making was carried out by me in person. The philosophical attitude towards Craft has helped me to move on. I regard the Craft as “a journey, not a destination”: reaching the end is not as important as the way itself. For the pieces of The Golden Fleece Collection that is crucial. Each piece requires thousands of hours of precise labour and many kilometres of gold wire. I believe that I wouldn’t have been able to undertake such a commitment if I didn’t appreciate the importance of every moment of it.
Material: video
Concept: A decorative cross is dissolving in acid. Material and spiritual transformation processes are evolving. The video shows both the destruction of the precious metal and the dissolution of a symbol that is culturally linked to a high value.
Material: drawing pin, rubber
Concept: In galleries, works of art which have already been sold have a tiny red spot attached to them. The purchaser, in agreement with the gallery owner, leaves behind a sign that a claim, that possession, have been taken – a badge of power. In 1980 I was invited to exhibit at a well known gallery in Basel, Switzerland. During the preparations it was stressed repeatedly to me that this was a serious art gallery, not an applied art gallery, so my exhibits had better reflect this. I ended up suggesting that the gallery be left empty, but with me personally marking each visitor with a red dot (an original drawing pin diameter 0,6 cm). Unfortunately the gallery found this unacceptable and cancelled the exhibition. Yet this was the birth of the, drawing-pin-brooches’, red dots which you affix anywhere to your clothing using a small piece of rubber. There now have been sold by galleries tens of thousands of these miniature brooches, these days in many different colours, to which the wearer can attach his or her own significance. Any remaining disappointment at the cancellation of the Basle exhibition turned to satisfaction when children began cutting up erasers to make their own drawing-pin brooches.
Material: Dyed nylon monofilament
Concept: Made in 1982, the aim was to create a complete, uninterrupted form, but one that accommodates the body as well. The structure is pulled so that it fits the neck, but it can always return to its original form.
This year’s edition of Budapest Jewelry Week brings artworks by the world’s most recognised jewelry designers to Hungary. Works by the pioneer artists of the last 40 years will be within reach, on display under the same roof. The exhibiting artists do not only showcase their technical expertise in their jewels, but also their innovative way of thinking, which has enabled jewelry to be considered equal to fine art. The show is entitled ‘IDOL’, and revolves around issues such as respect for the sense of commitment as well as the presentation of exemplary professional careers. This special occasion provides the chance for the visitors to receive an overview on the development of contemporary jewelry art from the second half of the 20th century until today.
1. Vera Siemund
Material: steel, enamelled copper
Concept: This work refers to the Gothic architecture and sculpture, the groined vault and the “foolish virgins”. Despite my deep awe, I took a more light-hearted perspective.
- 2. Gijs Bakker
Material: gold 585, stainless steel, enamel
Concept: For me all my heroes are equal, quality is the only condition of their art. Black or white, hetro- or homo-sexual, famous or unknown. My heroes can be artists, composers, actors, singers, architects, designers, etc To express this opinion I made this very personal necklace. All my heroes in this case are man, when taking of their hair they still remained recognisable. When I tried to make a necklace with my woman heroes, I discovered that when taking of their hair nothing recognisable remained……. The photos are transfers with industrial enamel burned on stainless steel. The links are from gold.
- 3. Bettina Speckner
Material: alutype, Silver, Diamonds
Concept: Look! Look closer!
The long exposure time (4 to 30sec.) of a wet plate collodion photography is somehow perceptible.
If you take your time looking at it, you can feel that a different kind of stillness has been transferred, an even stiller reality.
- 4. Hans Stofer
Material: steel, book
Concept: The work/composition Character is a character study. It describes through objects of who I am.
- 5. Daniel Kruger
Material: silver, acrylic glass, pigment
Concept: Central are two orange elements. They are made with acrylic glass strips laminated onto each other in order to make a grid pattern inside the translucent material. These elements are set in broad frames made in silver filigree, which are also translucent. The space between the silver wires is coloured with red pigment, while the surface is brushed clean, showing the silver.
- 6. David Bielander
Material: silver (patinated), whitegold staples
Concept: And what changes when the cardboard isn’t actually cardboard?
With this artwork I materialise the ambiguity, the multifacetedness of presence, I want my work to show me something that is the truth, almost in a transcendental way.
It does not mean that I am capable of creating a work like that. Of course I will fail in the end, but I flirt with the potency to make a tangible something that is true.
7. Christoph Straube
Material: stainless steel, enamel
Concept: Traditional enamel painting techniques are newly interpreted to depict three dimensional geometries in an illusionary space which only exists in one´s own perception.
- 8. Georg Dobler
Material: steel wire, aluminium sheet, acrylic lacquer
Concept: “QUOTATION”
To speak about the objects I create is, first and foremost, to speak about my inspiration, my perception, my surroundings.
I live in a world shaped by culture, in a house designed by an architect, surrounded by pictures, sculptures and a library of books. I see nature and art as a source of inspiration.
It is not my intention to copy fine art, but to find an appropriate form of interpretation, of transformation and to implement it in metal. Alienation, colours, quotes are parts of my design concept, and thus a new plane comes into being.
In classical jewellery context my works are perceived as too alien, too large, to colourful. I like to treat traditional jewellery pieces with irony. The choice of material is secondary to my concept, to my idea.
My premise is for people to be able to wear the jewellery.
From the formal point of view, such pieces are more or less abstracted, are seldom worn as status symbols, but rather serve as a societal statement and symbolizes belonging to a certain group.
- 9. Peter Chang
Material: acrylic, PVC, resin
Concept: "Peter Chang transforms scrapped, unrealistic plastic objects into jewels in a surprising way. His jewelry reflects on the cyclical circulation of birth, growth, decline and death. His works integrate various forms of change." Katalin Spengler
The jewellery comes from the private collection of Katalin Spengler.
- 10. Ramon Puig Cuyàs
Material: silver and acrylic painting
Concept: With these works he began to look for a connection with forms of popular expression, and that later he will also connect with the world of archeology and anthropology. It is an attempt to restore the bridges between contemporary jewelry and its origins related to a magical worldview of the world. A jewelry that was not banal and decorative, but carried the universal values of Art, also was in contact with the sphere of the spiritual, the inexplicable and the indefinable, and its language cannot be other than that of poetry. A poetry that makes it possible for contemporary jewelry to remain full of meaning, as were traditional jewelry and primitive body ornaments.
- 11. Ted Noten
Material: chewing gum-interactive
Concept: In 1998 Ted Noten produced 'Chew Your Own Brooch' in which he provides you with a chewing kit. You chew your gum, return it to him and get back a replica brooch cast in silver or gold – a small sculpture fashioned by your mouth. Noten has given the chewer a creative influence on the end product and the anxiety of being an artist for a few minutes, tapping into the creative child within us and poking fun at our silliness.
You can watch the video here: www.tednoten.com/portfolio-items/chew-your-own-brooch/
- 12. Kiko Gianocca
Material: wood veneer, balsa wood, silver, brass
Concept: I was interested in being able to work with wood with a different and new process based on the principle of addition and not subtraction, almost an attempt to give to the material its essence back again.
- 13. Melanie Isverding
Material: silver, enamel, crushed hematite and pearls, glimmer, lacquer, string
Concept: Maybe the most magical things on earth are often those things, one, at first sight, overlooks.
But sometimes it needs a second look to witness the spell and make it tangible for oneself.
My interest is our collective understanding and seeing habits in sense of value, in a material and in a sentimental manner in society.
Both indicators are mutually dependent, as we are used to see and categorize "things" with the cultural background and ones own references. If one common parameter is visually modified - a pearl or a gemstone gets crushed or pulverized and its usual appearance is changed, then it didn´t change its status, it just needs to be turned into another kind of self-understanding. Another approach is required to bring it to a new status, a different semantic level beside our collective understanding.
- 14. Marc Monzó
Material: silver, steel
Concept: "This work has a structural nature. There is a naked skeleton that outlines areas, its function would be similar to that of a three-dimensional map.
Some of these compositions are inspired by small ephemeral constructions of gardens.”
- 15. Susanne Hammer
Material: brass, chrome-plated
Concept: One of the most important themes in my work is the opposition pair order/disorder. Since 2012, with the work series 'Fault lines', I have been dealing with this kind of theme, as I did in my latest work 'Out of line' a well in 2021.
- 16. Lin Cheung
Material: rock crystal, 18ct gold
Concept: The Delayed Reactions series is inspired by people wearing pin badges in reaction to political, social and personal events. Pin badges are of the moment, cheap and quick to make, lasting only as long as necessary to get the message across. Carving in stone is the opposite: it is slow and unpredictable and often with a limited palette. But these limitations are a good test of what remains, what surfaces in my thoughts after the dust has settled. ‘Troubled Times’ highlights the natural stresses and strains in rock crystal formation and was made in material empathy with the social and political turbulence of our times.
- 17. Karl Fritsch
Material: silver, rose quartz, malachit, agate
Concept: "My approach to designing jewellery is very much based on the making, I love the processes and I love the materials involved, metals allow you to do certain things to them, andI keep testing what they allow me to do and what they are comfortable or uncomfortable with. When I start making, my brain also starts joining in and ideas evolve within the process and the pieces grow into whatI am thinking or not thinking at the moment, there is an important element of accident, getting excited and surprising myself involved.”
- 18. Ruudt Peters
Material: silver, gold, renshape
Concept: We walk through the world with our feet, but we are not aware that our feet do more than merely transport us. Our feet are necessary tools, but also root us to the ground. I emphasize the awareness of my place as jewelry maker in the world of body and mind. Terram helps me to connect between the micro and macro cosmos, between the upper and the underworld. This Terram feet has 12 layers of gold leaf like Buddha’s in Eastern Azia Step on the ground.
- 19. Fritz Maierhofer
Material: acryl, metal
Concept: This work expresses very well my position at the time: the choice of materials, such as plastic, and placing the piece of jewellery on a wall object when it is not worn. It was also my aim to integrate contemporary jewellery socially.
- 20. Lisa Walker
Material: glue, plastic, wool
Concept: Glue was one of the first new materials I worked with. It´s pretty much a goldsmith`s cheat material - you´re not really meant to use it, and if you do then very secretly. I needed to "unlearn" everything I´d learnt in my jewellery education. This training at Dunedin Art School in New Zealand, was based on traditional goldsmithing techniques. When we needed silver we had to melt our own granules and make a sheet or a wire. We did a lot of forging. I learnt a big respect for metal and its working processes. I made a lot of pieces just out of glue, bashing and squeezing it before it dried, scraping the drips off my table, embedding objects into it.
- 21. Iris Bodemer
Material: bronze, diamond crystal, onyx, garnet, wool, thread
Concept: Still lifes and rebus are fascinating me – Jewelry as a picture puzzles.
And what possibilities can I develop beside its capacity of being wearable?
The works constantly are in the process of changing dimensions in-between drawing and sculpture. Jewelry as a 2-dimensional drawing on the 3-dimensional body.
"Stories and pictures - every day we put them through a filter.
And in this filter stays, what we have to retain."
Anton Chekhov
- 22. Manfred Bischoff
Material: fine gold, mixed media on cardboard
Concept: “The works by one of the most innovative jewelry artists of the world are stylistically inimitable. They are miniature sculptures that create a surreal or ethereal effect, present gold in its elemental simplicity and gorgeousness. His jewels are comprised in collages complemented with drawings and texts." Katalin Spengler
The jewellery comes from the private collection of Katalin Spengler.
- 23. Giovanni Corvaja
Material: 750% (18 carat) gold
Concept: The Ancient Greeks said: O Mythos deloi, the Myth teaches. Myth, on the one hand, and Alchemy on the other, helped me understand what that quest was about: a hermetic journey into the unknown. I needed almost ten years to build self-confidence, knowledge and a clear vision on the matter. I had not been ready before. Doubtlessly, the curiosity was the main force that attracted me to this project. Probably an improvement in myself will be the reward.” The actual making of the gold fur presented many technical obstacles. It had taken me years of total dedication to overcome all the difficulties. Every single step in the process of making was carried out by me in person. The philosophical attitude towards Craft has helped me to move on. I regard the Craft as “a journey, not a destination”: reaching the end is not as important as the way itself. For the pieces of The Golden Fleece Collection that is crucial. Each piece requires thousands of hours of precise labour and many kilometres of gold wire. I believe that I wouldn’t have been able to undertake such a commitment if I didn’t appreciate the importance of every moment of it.
- 24. Gisbert Stach
Material: video
Concept: A decorative cross is dissolving in acid. Material and spiritual transformation processes are evolving. The video shows both the destruction of the precious metal and the dissolution of a symbol that is culturally linked to a high value.
- 25. Otto Künzli
Material: drawing pin, rubber
Concept: In galleries, works of art which have already been sold have a tiny red spot attached to them. The purchaser, in agreement with the gallery owner, leaves behind a sign that a claim, that possession, have been taken – a badge of power. In 1980 I was invited to exhibit at a well known gallery in Basel, Switzerland. During the preparations it was stressed repeatedly to me that this was a serious art gallery, not an applied art gallery, so my exhibits had better reflect this. I ended up suggesting that the gallery be left empty, but with me personally marking each visitor with a red dot (an original drawing pin diameter 0,6 cm). Unfortunately the gallery found this unacceptable and cancelled the exhibition. Yet this was the birth of the, drawing-pin-brooches’, red dots which you affix anywhere to your clothing using a small piece of rubber. There now have been sold by galleries tens of thousands of these miniature brooches, these days in many different colours, to which the wearer can attach his or her own significance. Any remaining disappointment at the cancellation of the Basle exhibition turned to satisfaction when children began cutting up erasers to make their own drawing-pin brooches.
- 26. Caroline Broadhead
Material: Dyed nylon monofilament
Concept: Made in 1982, the aim was to create a complete, uninterrupted form, but one that accommodates the body as well. The structure is pulled so that it fits the neck, but it can always return to its original form.
