Nsaio 3 – New Jewelry from Idar-Oberstein

Nsaio 3 – New Jewelry from Idar-Oberstein is a further exhibition in the series “Educational Centers in Discussion” presented by the German Goldsmiths’ House Hanau.

With a selection of 100 works, 30 students show their work of the last two years which was developed within the framework of various study projects.

The college at Idar-Oberstein represents an understanding of jewelry that sees beyond jewelry as only ornamentation or its function as a status indicator. Jewelry becomes a personal object, on one hand, in that its creator, wearer, and viewer are putting their feelings, ideas, memories, and desires into it (together). Jewelry contributes to the subjective and social construction of the personality of the wearer; it symbolizes the person of the wearer and becomes an index of this personality for others. As an art object, on the other hand, jewelry becomes a medium in which the artists of the world make their view of things public. In this manner it has become a collectable art and a museum exhibit.

The course of study, “Gem and Jewelry Design,” at Idar-Oberstein does not see itself as a schooling in the craft/academic tradition whose reputation is based primarily on and radiates the aura of its professors. Rather, it aims to be a laboratory, operating at the forefront of the period, in which the students and teachers research and experiment together on the project that is jewelry.

The graduate diploma works by Sun-Kyoung Kim are an example. She comments that for nearly all of the people in the field of precious stone processing, the only importance is how they make their stones valuable. In her works, however, she wants to create a new and vivid impression expressive of the relationship between two radical thoughts and things which would not normally be associated with each other. For example, she cut a facetted zircon in half and filled the resulting space with cement. A further example is a necklace of latex, instead of precious metals, into which various precious stones have been incorporated.

The road-less-traveled has also been chosen by Deborah Rudolf. In place of precious metals and glittering stones, she has created her necklaces with pebbles, bricks, or steel combined with silk or cotton.

Self-evident are both the high artistic level of the works as well as the program and the quality of education at this 21-year-young, and in the meantime very mature, college. In this respect, it is hardly surprising that the graduates from Idar-Oberstein are increasingly making their mark in the galleries and the jewelry market. “New Jewelry from Idar-Oberstein” is developing into label for young jewelry design