the charm of the minimal. carl dau. jewelry and objects

Artist list

Carl Dau

Here’s a résumé you don’t see every day: sailor, goldsmith, teacher, designer, and artist. A few years working as a sailor to explore the world, then at age 23 turns into an apprenticeship to become a goldsmith, later a period working as a journeyman, and start his studies in Hanau at the “Staatliche Zeichenakademie”.
After that, studies in Berlin, a few years as a goldsmithing teacher, in order to create his own, small, but elite designer jewelry company as a designer and goldsmith. His ideas were unconventional, his preferred material (stainless steel) largely unknown... but he had his finger on the pulse and soon became renowned in design-savvy circles.

His pieces had little to do with traditional artisanal goldsmithing because from the start he always preferred the series, which still had a poor reputation at the time (because it copied artisanal work). Carl Dau elevated it from the copying of artisanal work to a clear, pristine world, in which nothing was beautified and concealed, but where, on the contrary, it was demonstrated clearly and openly that another value exists, namely honest and clearly discernible serial work, largely completed by special machines according to precise specifications. nothing was covered up, nothing faked.
Additionally, Carl Dau was never tempted to produce pieces for private customers to their specifications. He was very well aware of the satisfaction that lies in that method for both parties, but only his own ideas and realization ever counted for him, he preferred to search the world for people willing and able to follow his attitude toward design.
 
Dau has never regarded himself as a goldsmith, but rather as a creator and designer, has almost never had any private customers but sold his jewelry across the world at big trade shows like Basel and Munich.
From the start, the number 10 was the magic limit. His intention was never to grow his firm, because he had seen too often that, otherwise, an excessively large part of the creativity seeped away into administration and management. His success proved him right. Thus, apart from jewelry, many large wall objects arose, and also 2 studio houses that clearly reflect his way of seeing things.
 
His second exhibition in Hanau forms a fitting completion to his creativity - for everything began here.

>> Check out the digital catalogue of the exhibition

>> Take a virtual exhibition visit