Devour. Jewellery by Sophie Hanagarth

Artist list

Sophie Hanagarth

The artist is not interested in making jewellery that is considered beautiful or decorative. With her work, she wants to question conventions, give space to the power of irony and be direct. Her works bring the hidden to the surface, making visible what often remains invisible. For example, French Kiss, Lipstick, Trap and Family Jewels bring intimacy to forms that formulate erotic allusions in their abstraction, arousing the viewer’s curiosity. These works not only have a visual but also a tactile effect. While the testicle-like Family Jewels made from steel nails or bottle caps are by no means a kind of worry stone, Lipstick, despite its rather opulent shape, moulds itself to the finger.

The theme of devouring runs through many of Sophie Hanagarth’s works. This is particularly evident in ORNAMENTAL or worms intimity. Their shapes entwine to form an ornament as if they want to eat each other, unable to let go of each other’s bodies. They illustrate how ambiguity characterises Hanagarth’s jewellery. Her work does not cater to the conventional understanding of adornment, let alone the expectation of precious metals. Contrasts, humour, provocation and the relationship of jewellery to the body permeate Hanagarth’s work. Necklaces, for example, allow for associations with whips and a medal appears to be composed of an agglomeration of small droppings. The sources of inspiration speak subtly from her work. They come from painting, folk art, iconography and language, from religious and magical objects. Hanagarth formulates a contemporary examination of mysticism, faith, desire and sexuality. Her works raise the question of how jewellery relates to the body and what function body awareness, sensuality and materiality play in it.

Sophie Hanagarth works mainly with steel, a material that is associated with hardness, heaviness and durability. She plays with these attributes, juxtaposing them with soft, writhing forms. Forging and modelling form the basis for her working process, for which she requires little equipment.

The exhibition Devour. Jewellery by Sophie Hanagarth at the Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau shows the artist’s work in all its creative phases.


About the artist:
Sophie Hanagarth was born in Zurich (CH) in 1968. After training as a goldsmith, she studied at the École Supérieure d’Arts Appliqués in Geneva (CH) until 1995. She has been teaching jewellery at the École Supérieure des Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg (FR) since 2002 and works as an artist in her studio in Paris (FR).
Her work is represented in numerous collections, including the CODA Museum Apeldoorn (NL), the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (FR), the Mint Museum of Craft and Design in Charlotte, North Carolina (US), the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas (US), the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (DE), the Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim (DE) and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Montréal (CAN). Sophie Hanagarth was honoured with the Françoise van den Bosch Award in 2014 and the Herbert Hofmann Prize in 2011.



Guided tours through the exhibition (in german):
Sunday guided tour: 19 October 2025 at 3 pm.
Public guided tour from a curatorial perspective: 16 November 2025 at 3 pm.
Sunday guided tour: 14 December 2025 at 3 pm.