Interviews

Sydney Lynch: Interpreting Her World

Interviews /

Sydney LynchSydney Lynch is a hard-working, self-supporting jeweler. In this interview she describes how she makes a living by creating jewelry, and what inspires her. Her show at Aaron Faber Gallery in New York City includes a huge selection of her work. Read about how she does it.

Susan Cummins: This show at Aaron Faber gallery includes 125 pieces. Is it a kind of retrospective? Are you showing sketches and photographs along with the jewelry? Can you describe the installation?

Sydney Lynch: The Aaron Faber show is more of a cross-section of my current work, rather than a retrospective. I have always created both a production line and one-of-a-kind designs, so there is a range from both bodies of work. The shell and coral pieces, which I made for the Aaron Faber 40th Anniversary show, are also on display. That small series was an opportunity for me to have fun designing and making pieces that were personal to me, incorporating finds from beachcombing in Mexico.

You mention on your website that while you were in college you worked on a Navajo reservation and that it was there you were inspired to make your own jewelry. Can you tell us this story?

Sydney Lynch: When I was 19, a sophomore in college, I spent six weeks as a teacher’s aide on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. It was a transformative experience on all levels. I grew up in Connecticut, and had never experienced the Western landscape. The powerful geography of the open desert, rocks, and canyons was thrilling, and I decided then and there to move out west, and have never lived on the East Coast again. It was also an opportunity for learning about native culture.

 

Sydney Lynch: Interpreting Her World Read More »

Eric Silva: Instinct

Interviews /

Eric SilvaInstinct is an apt title for Eric Silva’s show at Gallery Lulo. As a self-educated artist, Eric uses his natural impulses to work with interesting materials to make his jewelry. The results are varied and original. There isn’t too much material written about him, so I was very grateful that he was interested in answering a few questions.

Susan Cummins: The name Silva has Portuguese origins. Is that your background? Can you describe where you grew up and a little about your family history?

Eric Silva: No, I am Mexican. I am third generation born in California. I grew up in Norwalk, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. I was raised by a single mother and I have one younger brother. I came from a family of carpenters.

When did you know you wanted to be a jeweler?

Eric Silva: Being a jeweler isnʼt something that I planned to be or do. What I was most interested in was carving small objects. Because of the scale that I enjoyed working in, it seemed most appropriate to turn them into wearable items.

 

Eric Silva: Instinct Read More »

Susan and Jeff Wise: An Exhibition of Modern Jewelry

Interviews /

Susan and Jeff WiseSusan and Jeff Wise collaborate not only as man and wife, but to make jewelry together. The couple is known for cutting their own sculptural gemstones and integrating them into bold designs—their work has been collected by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Museum of Art and Design in New York. On the occasion of their show, An Exhibition of Modern Jewelry, at Patina Gallery, I had the chance to ask them a few questions.

Olivia Shih: This is your first gallery exhibition in two years. Did you take a hiatus from gallery exhibitions, or does it take this long to prepare for a show? Why exhibit now?

Susan and Jeff Wise: We show in galleries on a regular basis, but this is an unusually large collection for us, and it’s especially exciting to have it featured in a gallery as beautifully curated as Patina. We have a very long history with Santa Fe—in Jeff’s case, going back to his teens in the 60s, when the family would take road trips from their home in Denver in a 1948 Chrysler Town & Country Woodie. In those days, there were lots of highly skilled Navajo and Pueblo silversmiths selling their work under the portico of the governor’s palace, where Jeff bought turquoise heishi beads.     

We currently are able to produce around 60 pieces a year, and we’ll have around 80 pieces at Patina, so this show represents a significant amount of bench time. Many of the pieces had been put aside as our own retrospective collection, and we don’t normally show them or offer them for sale—but together, Allison and Ivan (Patina’s owners) can be most persuasive. Anything for art. The idea for this show started when Allison came up to Durango and stayed with us while she judged awards for a show at the Durango Art Center, which Susan and I had done the initial jurying for.

 

Susan and Jeff Wise: An Exhibition of Modern Jewelry Read More »

Benedikt Fischer

Interviews /

Benedikt FischerBenedikt Fischer is an Austrian jeweler who attended the technical School for Arts and Craft in Steyr, Austria, before taking a leap into art jewelry at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, where he studied under Manon van Kouswijk and Suska Mackert. After Rietveld, he worked as a professor’s assistant at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle, Germany. Fischer is known for his idiosyncratic pairing of traditional metal engraving with brightly colored plastic in highly original forms. His work is currently on exhibit at Jewelers’Werk. He is also one of five finalists for the 2014 Art Jewelry Forum Artist Award.

Olivia Shih: Could you talk about your time at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie? How has it influenced the way you think or work?

Benedikt Fischer: Before I came to study at the Rietveld, I only had a technical background, so I was not really familiar with the concept of so-called art jewelry. I felt comfortable there from the very first day, although it was of course not always easy, especially in the beginning. I think I came at the right time—there were really inspiring people, and the teachers, Manon van Kouswijk and Suska Mackert, were wonderful. They put a lot of thought into the program and showed us their love for the field and interesting ways of working. In short, it was perfect. The Rietveld is a powerhouse for ideas and creativity. 

 

Benedikt Fischer Read More »

Wear It Loud: Curated by Platforma (Bella Neyman and Ruta Reifen)

Interviews /

Ruta Reifen and Bella NeymanManhattan finally has a gallery space for contemporary jewelry. It is called R|R Gallery and is housed in a storefront space at the intersection of New York City’s fashionable Meatpacking District and the West Village. The space is connected to, but separate from, the Gansevoort Street store and workshop of Reinstein/Ross, Goldsmiths. This new space is dedicated to exhibiting progressive work in studio art jewelry, as well as fine arts related to jewelry, precious stones, and precious metals. The owners—Andrew Schloss and Nancy Bloom—asked Bella Neyman and Ruta Reifen of Platforma to curate their first show. Platforma chose to relate the show to Fashion Week in New York, and they hoped that the work in Wear It Loud would speak to the fashionistas in town.

Susan Cummins: Tell us something about this new gallery space called R|R Gallery in New York. Do we finally have a contemporary jewelry gallery in the big city?

Bella Neyman: Yes! This is very exciting news. R|R Gallery, also known as the Gallery at Reinstein/Ross, is located at 30 Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District. The name Reinstein/Ross may be familiar to many AJF readers because it is a New York institution. Susan Reinstein and Brian Ross opened the store in 1985. Susan designed the jewelry and Brian sourced the stones. Every piece was made in their Madison Avenue shop. Nancy Bloom and Andrew Schloss have since taken over the store, but have stayed true to Susan’s designs and also to the original owners’ core value: All of the jewelry is still made in New York City. The store has two locations, one at 29 East 73rd Street and the other one now on Gansevoort Street (until recently their downtown location was on Prince Street). Next year marks the company’s thirtieth anniversary and as they look to the future, the owners have chosen to open an art jewelry gallery. This stems from having employed many talented goldsmiths, who are alumni from some of the top metalsmithing programs in the country, so they are very familiar with the field and believe in it. The field is expanding and gaining worldwide recognition, and they want to be a part of this. 

 

Wear It Loud: Curated by Platforma (Bella Neyman and Ruta Reifen) Read More »

40 Years of New Zealand Jewelry

Interviews /

FingersFingers Gallery in New Zealand is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an exhibition at Objectspace, an exhibition space in Auckland both publicly and privately funded. Over the years, Fingers Gallery has witnessed and participated in the development of New Zealand jewelry. Finn McCahon-Jones, the curator of the exhibition, gives us its history.

Susan Cummins: Finn, please tell us who you are and why Objectspace is having a show about the gallery Fingers.

Finn McCahon-Jones: I come from a family of makers and observers, and for the past decade have worked at Auckland Museum, primarily with the decorative art and design collection. I am currently employed as a curator working on renewals of the permanent galleries. During this time I have also been involved with not-for-profit arts organizations and artist-run spaces.

In November this year, Fingers turns 40, making it one of the oldest still-running jewelry galleries in the world. It is also the oldest still-running craft gallery in Aotearoa New Zealand. The show at Objectspace will be an important one for jewelry audiences, as it will bring together largely unseen works from private collections, and provide an overview of jewelry history in this country, centered around Fingers.

 

40 Years of New Zealand Jewelry Read More »

Digital Artisans: The Future of Design and Creation

Interviews /

Alba Cappellieri Laura Rysman: Do you make a distinction between designers who consider themselves artists and those who work in a commercial setting? What is the difference for you between jewelry designers/artists who fabricate their work—studio jewelers—and those who have work produced, or even mass-produced? Alba Cappellieri: Like Bruno Munari said, artists work for themselves

Digital Artisans: The Future of Design and Creation Read More »

Bettina Speckner: Foto-jóias

Interviews /

Bettina SpecknerBettina Speckner is a German jewelry artist who studied under Otto Künzli and Hermann Jünger at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She has exhibited her work in major galleries, and now hers is the first jewelry show at the Galeria Thomas Cohn in Brazil. This gallery, up until now, has been exclusively an art gallery, but has made the bold move to become devoted to a new art form (for him)—contemporary jewelry. Bettina is known for creating fresh yet nostalgic narratives by altering ferrotypes, some dating back to the Industrial Revolution, with a surgeon’s touch and jeweler’s eye.

Olivia Shih: This is the first jewelry show by the Thomás Cohn Gallery in São Paulo, Brazil. How did you connect with him in the first place?

Bettina Speckner: Thomas contacted me via email. When he told me that he had the idea to start a gallery of contemporary jewelry in Sao Paulo, I was of course interested and also fascinated by his brave idea. I was in Brazil 25 years ago for six months, and I had my very first solo exhibition there.
You were studying painting before you transferred to the jewelry department and studied under Otto Künzli and Hermann Jünger. How has this background influenced your work?

Bettina Speckner: I think it still does. My way of seeing is maybe with a painter’s eye—my jewelry pieces rarely are three-dimensional, and everything happens on a two-dimensional surface. Maybe even my use of imagery comes from there. It gives me the possibility to play.

 

Bettina Speckner: Foto-jóias Read More »

Svenja John: Assembly

Interviews /

Svenja JohnSvenja John’s exhibition Assembly is on display at Gallery Funaki this month. In this interview, Svenja provides us with insight about the complexity of her process and describes her philosophy on the use of modern technology by makers.

Missy Graff: How did you become a jeweler? Please tell me about your background.

Svenja John: I met a young goldsmith when I was on vacation on the Adriatic coast at the age of 14. I was fascinated by her natural glow and happiness. Her words were so passionate when she talked about her job that I decided, “This is exactly what I want to do!” It was neither a specific piece of jewelry, nor the concept of jewelry, that sparked my interest. It all started because of one person’s passion for making.

When I turned 16, I tried very hard to find an apprenticeship—against the will of my parents. At that time, it was an almost impossible desire. Without connections, none of my generation could reach this goal, simply due to the fact that there were too many people trying to enter the field.

I had to wait until 1985 to start my training as a jeweler and to become a student at the Staatliche Zeichenakademie in Hanau, Germany.

 

Svenja John: Assembly Read More »

Craig McIntosh: Machined

Interviews /

Craig McIntoshNew Zealand jeweler Craig McIntosh is breaking all the stone-carving rules by turning the method around from a reductive process to an additive one. He works in a land where stone carving is a strong tradition, so this could be upsetting. His new show at The National in Christchurch gives us an idea of what this means.

Susan Cummins: You are a carver of stone and a maker of small objects and jewelry, similar to the Japanese craftsman who makes netsuke. What is your connection to that, and how did you get here?

Craig McIntosh: I was introduced to netsuke in the late 90s. I produced and exhibited a small amount of netsuke alongside making jewelry ’til about 2004. If you’re interested in carving, there is so much that can be learned from looking into netsuke—in fact, I don’t think I would make the jewelry I make now, or understand as much about working on a small scale, if I hadn’t explored netsuke.

But it became problematic. The more I became involved with making jewelry, and considering jewelry and its relationship to identity—particularly here in Aotearoa, New Zealand—the less appropriate it felt to be making something from somebody else’s culture. So I stopped, and have been focusing on making jewelry since. I think it has been one of the most rewarding decisions I have ever made.

 

Craig McIntosh: Machined Read More »

Frieda Doerfer: Lines

Interviews /

Frieda DoerferFrieda Doerfer’s exhibition Lines was recently on display at Galerie Ra. In this interview, Frieda provides us with insight about her use of line and shares the concepts behind her pieces. 

Missy Graff: Please tell me about your background. How did you become interested in making jewelry? 

Frieda Doerfer: After I finished school, I thought that goldsmithing might be an interesting craft to learn. I managed to get an internship and I knew right away that I had found the right job. So I moved to Pforzheim, in the south of Germany, to pursue my apprenticeship as a goldsmith at the Goldschmiedeschule. After that, I studied jewelry design at Pforzheim University. I graduated in 2013 and since then I have been a self-employed jewelry maker and artist. 

During your many years of training you discovered guilloché, an engraving technique. Can you please describe what inspired you to use this technique in your work?

Frieda Doerfer: Indeed. It has already been a few years since I started to explore the old engraving technique guilloché, also known as “engine turning.” I am still fascinated by the huge variety of possibilities that are created with basic forms like zigzags or wavy lines.

 

Frieda Doerfer: Lines Read More »

Scroll to Top