Karl Fritsch: Some Rings are Fuckwits

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Karl Fritsch

I myself was surprised by how much my first few months here, and especially establishing my workshop, immediately influenced my first “made in New Zealand” rings. The do-it-yourself mentality as well as the fact that I used different tools and materials than I normally would when I built my workshop, finds expression in some pieces.

I learnt goldsmithing in a pretty traditional manner at a vocational college and company in Pforzheim. Then at the Academy I found out how I could use what I had learned. I enjoy working, and things often have to be done very quickly. One moment, a ring wants to look a certain way, and the next, it wants to look like something quite different. Sometimes it even freaks out, is unruly, out of control. Sometimes a ring plays a joke on me, or it sits at the table like a good child, doing nothing. Then it’s about quickly soldering, casting, filing, setting stones. The ring can’t wait; it is impatient and
wants to hurry.