Jewellery all along the line

Artist list

Volker Atrops, Yiftah Avrahami, Alexandra Bahlmann, David Basok, Sofia Beilharz, Margherita Berselli, Doris Betz, David Bielander, Iris Bodemer, Helen Britton, Caroline Broadhead, Giovanni Corvaja, Martina Dempf, Susie Heuberger, Mirjam Hiller, Mari Ishikawa, Margit Jäschke, Steven KP, Sokoi Lamaj, Andrew Lamb, Typhaine Le Monnier, Florence Lehmann, Carolina Lutz, Andrea MAXA Halmschlager, Stefano Marchetti, Jasmin Matzakow, Oliver Meinicke, Khanya Mthethwa, Monica Nabyal, Erico Nagai, Kazumi Nagano, Farieda Nazier, Misaki Nomoto, John Parkes, Sònia Pibernat, Alessandra Pizzini, Annelies Planteydt, Mandy Rasch, Carla Riccoboni, Nicola Riess, Jacqueline Ryan, Bernhard Röck, Barbara Schrobenhauser, Juliane Schölss, Peter Skubic, Yuxi Sun, Kathrin Sättele, Ketli Tiitsar, nelly Van Oost, Marian Vanhaeren, Lisa Waup, Sibylle Wolf, Heather Woof, Pei Wu, Kun Zhang

Where does jewelry begin? The current exhibition shows how the origins of jewelry - a string - developed into a wide variety of meanings and forms that are still valid today. The use of a string is virtually the zero point of our jewelry culture and can be scientifically proven in archaeological finds. Since these beginnings in South Africa around 75,000 years ago, the use of the cord has branched out into a variety that spans cultures and times and still shapes our understanding of jewelry as wearers today, as well as shaping jewelry creation as a design theme.

We illuminate this convergence here - the global consensus - the use of a cord as jewelry. From Stone Age tools for cord production in Blaubeuren around 35,000 years ago and their use for necklaces with prehistoric beads to contemporary interpretations by international jewelry artists. The evidence of string as a jewelry object in Stone Age cultures is undoubtedly fascinating. Even more fascinating, however, is the fact that it is still used today.
Cord made from various materials

To this day, international jewelry artists examine various materials with regard to their quality for processing them into cords. The material aesthetics are appealing, but there are often important concerns behind them, such as the cultural heritage of a region, one's own origins or the preservation of creation. Worn on the body, this cord becomes jewelry. Suddenly, the cord shifts our gaze from its aesthetic appeal to a relevant position in social discourse. Those who are aware of the symbolic classification can no longer separate the symbolic meaning from the cord, i.e. can no longer separate the idea from the object.

A connection between us
By wearing a string, you can not only make yourself and your imaginary world a theme. You can also use the string to show a connection that can be perceived by everyone. Either very concretely, by connecting yourself to a third thing, e.g. stringing a pendant and wearing it around your neck. In a figurative form the cord may represent a spiritual connection with something invisible or with other people. Some people speak of a red thread that runs through their lives. And which, although in red signal color, is also only thought and traces our leitmotif, our turning points and motivations for important decisions. Our emotional connections may only take place in our heads, but they carry us through life. Family ties and friendships with people accompany us on our journey, strengthen us, motivate us and keep us going. We bear witness to them in our jewelry.

Between drawing and calligraphy
A line has a starting point, actively takes a direction, starts moving and comes to an end. It is also a dynamic process in terms of language and gesture: we draw a line from ourselves and our body, away from ourselves and towards our surroundings, with which we connect. Depending on the tool used, this line can be sketchy with a pen or calligraphic with a brush, for example. Translated into another material the line moves from paper up into volume, is lifted into the third dimension.

The cord for rituals
A string could be infinite if we found infinite material or extended it in our minds until it goes beyond our imagination. In many spiritual values, we are a small part of a line, a link in a tradition and a larger context that leads from our past into the future and beyond. This is visualized by wearing a cord on the body that is used for different spiritual practices and rules.

No matter how different our ideas mentioned above are, they are all connected by a refreshingly clear visualization: a simple string on the body. But again, can we not see the string as a common ground, as an element connecting our cultures? Couldn't we use the string as a starting point to recognize further similarities and connections between us all?
/ Barbara Schmidt, Leiterin der Kulturabteilung der Handwerkskammer für München und Oberbayern München 2024.


This Galerie Handwerk exhibition features 55 exhibitors, both regional and international. They will lend their high quality to contemporary design in the goldsmith's craft and underline Munich's high reputation as an important center of contemporary jewelry. The presentation will show a theoretical as well as a playful approach in order to address visitors of different generations. It will illustrate the further developments of design ideas in jewelry that are as rich in tradition as they are innovative.


Opening: Wednesday 28th February 2024 at 19:00 h.


Gallery hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10 to 18 h
Thursday 10 to 20 h
Saturday 10 to 13 h
The gallery is closed on Sundays and public holidays.