Sabine Runde – författare

Ebbe Weiss-Weingart (b. 1923) is one of the pioneers of international studio jewellery. For over seventy years she has enriched the contemporary jewellery scene with her diverse works. Her inception in the 1950s and 1960s with structured surfaces and galvanised sculptured pieces will never be forgotten. Alongside figurative motifs - in particular, her portrayals of humans and animals - she also created pieces with an ironic and quirky touch. In her last phase of creativity, which began in the 1990s, she had a penchant for working with jewellery made from Chinese jade reliefs. Around 200 illustrations of these jewellery objects documents her award-winning work, and along with previously unpublished photographic material, expands on her hitherto unknown accomplishments.Text in English and German.

For Red X Thread, the gold- and silversmith and designer Franz Bette (b. 1941) developed a new body of work which reflected his experiences in Asia. For this, he incorporated new elements to his artistic approach, extending his Western-influenced vocabulary of steel, silver, gold and plastic by adding materials with Asian connotations, such as porcelain, paper, bamboo, wood and textile. He works with these materials, aware of their tradition and meaning in Asian culture. Many new impulses have led Franz Bette to special formulations in his poetic language, to organic ephemerality instead of geometric constructions. His jewellery shifts between drawing and sculpture, far removed from all monumentality. The exhibition Red X Thread: Franz Bette - Jewellery, ALIEN Art, Kaohsiung (TW) runs from 15 February 2019 - 23 June 2019. Text in English, Chinese and German.

The term ‘craftsmanship’ is associated with individuality, uniqueness, decorative potential, artistic quality, attention to material and to process. But what does craftsmanship mean today? This exhibition catalogue of nearly 600 pages explores the meaning of craftsmanship in the context of the outstanding collection of the Museum Angewandte Kunst (Frankfurt, Germany) in a monumental survey of 700 items dating from 1945 to the present. Scale reproductions of plates, furniture, cutlery, jewellery and vases highlight their surprising variety of form. In their essays, the ten authors take diverse approaches to the broad terrain of craftsmanship: from the relationship between East Asia and Western ceramics, via the handicrafts of the Romantic period, to the adventure that is arts and crafts today. The title plays on the perceived parallel between the ability of the cactus to survive and thrive in adverse conditions, and the future of the hand-made object in an industrial world.Text in German.