Contemporary designs reshape the nature of jewelry

Contemporary designs reshape the nature of jewelry

JAKARTA (JP): The emergence of new and more innovative designs in jewelry making have led it to evolve from being a mere craft to that of a fine and difficult art.

Contemporary designers no longer stick to traditional materials like gold, silver and platinum. Nowadays a designer feels free to use anything from aluminum to textiles to rubbish.

The shifting trends in jewelry design are on full display at the Erasmus Huis, which is showcasing distinguished works of outstanding Dutch jewelry by designer Hans Appenzeller.

The exhibition, which runs until April 15, also has a jewelry collection from Indonesia belonging to the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam.

Tropenmuseum (tropical museum) is part of Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen in Amsterdam. The museum displays cultural items and artifacts from sub-tropic and tropical countries.

Established in l864 under the name Koloniaal Museum, the museum has since l950 expanded its collections to include items from all tropical countries throughout the world.

The exhibition presents Appenzeller's distinguished designs, such as a gold pendant in rectangular and fan shapes, aluminum bracelets, an astonishing aluminum necklace and numerous jewelry pieces.

Appenzeller is one of the prime innovators behind the revolution in design that ultimately overthrew the old guard of conventional jewelry makers back in the late sixties.

"Jewelry should be exciting, a challenge to both the maker and the wearer. My work then was definitely radical, a statement," said the artist as quoted by Appenzeller Publication.

People want something that expresses their personality, matches their mood. Circular shapes don't always do that. On the other hand, jewelry shouldn't be overpowering, he explained.

Born in Amsterdam, he attended Gerrit Rietveld Academy, opened his first store in Amsterdam in l970 with pieces influenced by the Bauhaus ethic -- functional industrial-like designs made of plastic, rubber and aluminum.

Although dismissing the role he has played in transforming Dutch ideas on what a piece of jewelry should be, he is gratified to see more conventional goldsmiths using forms he pioneered in the l970s.

Contemporary jewelry design emerged as an international movement in the early l970s, according to The Best in Contemporary Jewellery. It all began when a small number of artists in the United States and Europe started creating jewelry for aesthetic, individual reasons instead of purely commercial ones, experimenting with a wide variety of styles and materials.

Among the pioneers are Appenzeller and Gijs Bakker from the Netherlands, James Bennet from the United States, Ulrike Bahrs from Germany and Joaquim Capdevilla from Spain.

"The process has been slow, but I think the high-street jeweler has finally realized people don't want run-of-the mill pieces any more," Appenzeller said.

He is interested in combining his experiments with ideas, form, color and material with something that has an essential innovative quality and beauty.

In Amsterdam and New York, he is known as an avant-garde jewelry designer, but these days Hans Appenzeller is branching out into home accessories.

Bracelets, necklaces and vases all come from the same point of view, said the artist who has a predilection for exploring the different uses of ordinary materials.

From this exhibition one can learn that jewelry is not merely a luxurious adornment but something that is beautiful, wearable, and, as artwork goes, relatively inexpensive. (raw)