I See the Jewellery-Field as a Chain. An interview with Paul Derrez

Celebrating Life by Paul Derrez. The Retrospective at the Dutch Silver Museum in Schoonhoven.

This exhibition is quite extensive. It presents over a hundred pieces spanning 50 years of creative work, reflecting your artistic evolution. Is it the first time your work has been showcased at such a scale in a retrospective?
No, in 2015, I got a huge retrospective in the CODA museum in Apeldoorn. But since then, I have made quite some new work. For my retrospective at the Dutch Silver Museum in Schoonhoven, I gave more attention to the silver part in my oeuvre. As an extra addition, I made a collection of merely silver spoons for this show.

Schoonhoven was a centre for the silver industry for ages. Also, the vocational school for gold and silversmithing and for watchmaking is situated in this charming little town. My father learned in there to be a watchmaker in the thirties (1932), and I learned to be a goldsmith in the seventies (1973-1975).


Paul & Carin Reinders (Director of the CODA Museum) in front of Celebrating Life's display at the Silver Museum, Schoonhoven.


How was the exhibition conceived and organised? Did you curate it yourself, or was there a collaboration with a curator?
I made a proposal for what and how to show, and the director and the team accepted it. Assistance in a practical way was offered.


What criteria guided the selection of the works shown? How does one begin to structure and prioritise fifty years of creation?
Crucial were the given spaces and their possibilities and limits. A huge table with a range of fixed showcases and an empty separate room to fill in freely was available. I made a mockup from the table on scale, and filled this in with about 100 pieces, giving an overview of 50 years of jewellery, objects and silverwork. For the separate room, I made a maquette on scale for a specific display of the new collection of spoons.


Having been the owner of Galerie Ra for over 43 years, did that experience help you in building this exhibition, or is exhibiting your own work a completely different challenge?
No, my experience in organising and setting up exhibitions at Galerie Ra and at fairs, over a period of 43 years, helped a lot. In the past, I regularly made ground plans and maquettes for shows.


Creating a retrospective is also about telling a story. Do you see yourself as a storyteller? In your artistic work as well?
This retrospective tells my life story, in many chapters, chronologically. Showing the different phases and themes in my career. The themes can relate, for example, to specific techniques, like pleating material, to material combinations, design solutions, or social issues.


Sketches of the oeuvre display from the retrospective at the Silver Museum, Schoonhoven.


The Practice

Your work has maintained a strong and recognisable aesthetic over the years, one that seems deeply rooted in the language of 1970s Dutch contemporary jewellery. How do you see the relationship between continuity and evolution in your practice?
When I entered the Dutch jewellery scene in the early seventies, it was already a very vivid movement. A new generation of jewellers had started experimenting with design, materials, techniques, relation to the body and social issues. It connected to crafts, art, design and fashion. I fitted in very well in this movement. With my background in industrial design, I liked logic, minimalist designs and serial production, characteristics that were strongly represented in Dutch jewellery in the late sixties, early seventies. I continued this approach, but in a less orthodox and more playful way.


Paul Derrez. Ring: Wisselring, 1975. Gold, silver, acrylic. Part of the Silver Museum Schoonhoven.


Paul Derrez. Objects: Power Play, 2022. (Oxidised) silver. Photo by Rob Bohle.


Your work ranges from minimalist jewellery in bold, almost industrial colours to silverware where the gesture, material, and time involved in making are visible. Do you approach these two practices differently?
I develop prototypes for jewellery, objects, or silverware. I try several variations on a theme and work them out in groups. Sometimes, a variation has the potential, in both technical and commercial senses, to be developed into a product. It can even be produced in large quantities for shops or companies. This development into a serial product can grow naturally. Other variations have more restrictive styles and making processes, so they fit better in a gallery context where guidance is more educational and the audience is more informed.

The silverware is a different chapter as it is expensive in both material and labour. In 2000, I started to make silverware and am an almost autodidact in the smithing technique. Silverware has a different history and a different audience. Their focus is, in general, on historical silver and on antiques. Some silver collectors started to buy modern silverwork, but I was happily amazed that modern jewellery collectors discovered modern silver and started to collect it!


Paul Derrez. Objects: Collection of Spoons, 2025. Mainly silver.


Is wearability an essential aspect of your work? What does it mean to you? And to jewellery in general?
There is wearability in a practical sense. Circumstances can vary: from playing with your children on the beach to performing on the red carpet. I like to wear my jewellery myself, so I have mirrors in my workshop to see the possibilities and effects of a piece. To wear it with trust and confidence, it should not be too fragile or weak, but it can be large and present.

Hesitation to wear a different type of jewellery has mostly not a practical but a psychological reason! I like it when jewellery communicates and acts as a strong visual language.


Paul Derrez. Pendant: Bleeding, Crying, Screaming Heart pendant, 1996. Aluminium, acrylic.


Beyond the Studio

Galerie Ra, which you directed from 1976 to 2019, was a pioneering space for contemporary jewellery. Do you think galleries still play that essential role today, as bridges between artists and the public?
Yes, galleries are still very important as intermediaries between the maker and the audience. I especially appreciate their continuity and the curatorial vision they offer. However, I am also aware of their limits, being dependent on a specific market, like the dominant collectors' scene.
I am happy that nowadays there are many more possibilities to connect artists with an audience, worldwide, through the internet, through sites like AJF and Klimt02. But small-scale and local initiatives can also be very inspiring and innovative, such as The Pool Collective and the WearHouse in Amsterdam.


Exhibition display of Galerie Ra with Paul Derrez in 2017.


Throughout your career, you've worn many hats: artist, gallerist, publisher, foundation chairman, mediator, collector…
What insights can you share from these different roles? And what is your view on the current state of the contemporary jewellery market and how it operates?
I see the jewellery field as a chain, each link contributing to the flourishing and strength of the whole. Sometimes links are weak or even missing, and then the total becomes poor. I felt at home in several of these links as a maker, gallerist, teacher, writer, collector, organiser, etc. We need people, organisations and institutions to fill in all these different roles! These roles should not be static, but experimental, dynamic and interactive…



Current Perspectives

How do you perceive the current evolution of the contemporary jewellery field, in terms of the roles of galleries, fairs, and now digital platforms?
Jewellery is such a fantastic medium, as it can be very independent and therefore experimental and fast: You can develop an idea on day one, realise it on day two, and wear it on day three. So you can even ignore the marketing part in this process. Just make it, show it, wear it! Jewellery has an enormous potential for freedom. Therefore, architects envy and love modern jewellery, as their own field knows many restrictions in regulation, practical and technical aspects.
Especially now, in a time of worldwide misery, it's necessary to connect with our fears and hopes, to use our craft in connecting with one another. In this respect, I think the Pins & Posters project is a heartwarming initiative.


It is often said that in today’s digital space, information circulates freely, borders are blurred, and the success or visibility of a work no longer depends on geography. Exhibitions are becoming increasingly international. Yet we still see strong groupings, by school, gallery, or national scene, for example at Schmuck, because it is perhaps an easier way to remind.
Do you think that belonging to a group, a scene, or a national identity can strengthen the impact or legitimacy of an artist’s work or initiative?
The overwhelming amount of information can be both stimulating and confusing. A maker has to go back to its own roots. The self, the drive, the motivation, the interests, the knowledge, the research. That is where it all starts. And an obsession to create, to make, to try, to throw away, to convince your friends, your mother and your neighbours….


On your side, you seem to maintain a strong connection with the Dutch scene (the birthplace of contemporary jewellery). What does this connection mean to you today, after five decades of creation and exchange?
I feel very privileged to be part of the jewellery field for half a century. It was and is a fantastic playground and a unique experience. It feels as a great luxury. I cherish my memories.
And as a maker, I still enjoy it!


  >> Discover more about Paul Derrez on Klimt02  


Paul Derrez. Object: Condom monstrance, 2005. Silver, acrylic, condom.

 

About the Interviewee

Paul Derrez (b. 1950, Sittard) is a Dutch jewellery artist and gallery owner whose work blends clear design with playful contrasts. Trained in goldsmithing at Schoonhoven and in performance arts in Utrecht, he gained international recognition by founding Galerie Ra in Amsterdam (1976–2019), a leading space for contemporary jewellery and objects. His creations often combine silver or steel with vibrant acrylics. Beyond his artistic practice, Derrez has been the chairman of the Françoise van den Bosch Foundation and has teached at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.