Youth Promotion Prize 2006

The Goldsmiths´Association organized for the 5th time the Youth Promotion Prize for jewellery and metal hollow- and flatware 2006 together with the non-profit making Bertha Heraeus and Kathinka Platzhoff Foundation. The competition is focused on young alumni of German schools, colleges and universities specialising as goldsmiths, silversmiths or jewellery designers.

71 jewellery and metal objects artists of 14 different colleges and universities participated with their final year project. Their works show an intensive examination of most different topics. It was used silver and gold as well as highly experimental materials like gramophone records, old plastic toys, fabrics and silicone.

The jury, Dorothea Foerster and Arno Pancke, both designer/producer of jewellery and Andrea Rich-ter-Mahlo, art historian, awarded prizes and honourable mentions in a total amount of € 6.500.-.

The laureates were Kerstin Klix, designer/producer of jewellery from Hanau, Frederike Schuerenkaemper and Philipp Eberle, both graduated designers for jewellery and objects from Pforzheim.


About the awarded

Kerstin Klix called her feathery brooches and rings Tuffs. The colourful jewellery pieces consist each of an empty covering. The cover describes the once enclosed object and let become its form visible again. For her topic she developed a new material, a fabric-silicone compound that is elastic, flexible and light without having the fragile qualities of fabric.

Frederike Schuerenkaemper themed her jewellery Daily Task. Her delicate jewellery is executed in silver and synthetic spinel. She worked the pieces in several, out of phase distances, necessarily with some breaks in between. In this creative “room”, she evolved her ideas and modifications to the origi-nal design.

Philipp Eberle played in his final year project with the term Second Choice. “It is not easy for the number “two”: second-best, second-hand, or just the second choice. It is all about imperfection.” The material for his work is used objects. He fused old plastic toys and sewing needles to jewellery piece which he gilded afterwards. His jewellery concept is equivalent to the process that call waste scientists “upcycling”: waste that returns to the area of value.


The objects that were awarded as well as a selected range of the participants´ works are presented in the German Goldsmiths´ House Hanau.