Wilhelm Lindemann – författare

Jewellery designed by Ute Eitzenhöfer is intrinsically complex and contradictory. Her designs range from playful, sensual, reassuring, to dark, angry, provocative and brutal. Intrinsic beauty and its value to society is a recurring theme of her work. The jewellery she creates is autonomous, it makes a statement; created not for an abstract display case, these are strong artefacts that become complete, that find some meaning, only when worn on the body. The narrative Eitzenhöfer strives for is one of social criticism, her designs are perceived as opulent yet reflect certain images or concepts inherent in the modern world. She has consistently challenged and explored the themes of freedom, time, sensuality and superficiality in her work. This volume is a collection of designs that range from her earlier creative work to the last ten years; thought-provoking, imaginative and often extreme, this is jewellery as a social statement, rather than an accessory. Text in English and German.

Engravers Gerd and Patrick Dreher are famous the world over for their masterly animal figures, each of which is cut from a single gemstone. In the early twentieth century, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all cut gemstones for Fabergé - mostly agate but also ruby, obsidian, aquamarine, citrine and rock crystal. Today, creations are still being meticulously made by hand using traditional techniques. The realistic miniature forms of mice, snails, toads, monkeys and hippos are designed by the two artists in multilayered and coloured gemstones so that, for example, the faces, palms of the hand or soles of the feet shine in an iridescent red-brown agate while the bodies are worked in the glossy deep black part of the stone. These unique engravings are today some of the rarest examples of the highest quality in craftsmanship, and represent fascination of the highest cultural degree in a world of increasing globalisation.

Alongside artistically experimental aspects of education, the ThinkingJewellery 'trademark' stands as a contextual leitmotif throughout the gemstones and jewellery study programme at Trier University/Idar-Oberstein campus. The aims of ThinkingJewellery comprise scientifically oriented research as well as discourse on the historical and societal interconnection of jewellery. Highlights are the ThinkingJewellery symposia, which are now accompanied by a series of periodicals. The new series discusses contributions to a contemporary theory of jewellery beyond disciplinary boundaries or typical categories. The texts envisioned for ThinkingJewellery 2 include 'On the Cultural History of the Gemstone', 'Goethe on Colour' and 'Cold Shine - Empty Glamour, on Jeff Koons's Celebration Series', which are based on lectures from the 2017 symposium.

The discovery of the Oberstein company Jakob Bengel as a prominent jewellery manufacturer has liberated Oberstein from the stigma of being the “underdog” of the German jewellery industry. Wilhelm Lindemann and Christianne Weber-Stöber document in this current study its independent contribution to the evolution of early German jewellery design between 1910 and 1933 using Bengel as an example. Highlights from the collection of Drs. Margarete and Heribert Händel, hitherto unpublished pieces of Bengel jewellery, and contemporary designs attest to the exceptional level of production as part of the reformist ideas of the Deutscher Werkbund, the German Schools of Art and Crafts, and the Bauhaus. With this book, the industrial monument Historische Uhrketten und Bijouteriewarenfabrik Jakob Bengel, Idar-Oberstein together with the Jakob Bengal Foundation marks the factory’s 150-year anniversary.Text in English and German.