Herman Hermsen

Bio

For a long time, Dutch product designer Herman Hermsen devoted himself in equal parts to the design of industrial products and jewelry. After studying at the Akademie voor Beeldende Kunsten Arnhem from 1974 to 1979, Hermsen's passion was lighting design. Hermsen follows his own consistent line. His luminaire designs create a dialogue between functionality and form with playful ease. The construction itself becomes a decorative element. Not infrequently, the designs are accompanied with a wink, such as the table light Along came Bette, whose slanted reflector disc on the bulb is reminiscent of the large hats worn by the film star Bette Davis.

In addition, Hermsen assisted Emmy van Leersum, the wife of his former teacher Gijs Bakker, with jewelry design for four years during this phase. A medium that now moved more and more into the foreground of his work. His designs break with the traditional norms of jewelry as a status symbol. Colorfully painted steel wire, aluminum or plastic transforms into easy-going jewelry objects. 

In general, my working method with regard to all designs is based on a reinterpretation of the respective product, Hermsen says. The results are experiments in form that challenge conventional notions of function and wearability. There are brooches that manage entirely without brooching and are held in place only by pinching the fabric, or bulky headdresses made of thin wire that protrude into space when fastened over the ears. 
After he was appointed professor at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, Hermsen turned his focus entirely to serially manufactured jewelry. Today, his works are represented in numerous museums and collections.
 

Statement

Since I started working as a designer the main challenge and focus within my work is looking for new concepts and new technical solutions within a contemporary framework of traditional values and crafts combined with expressive and innovative design.

I conceive my jewellery as unique piece, as multiple or for serial manufacturing. Concept is always an important starting point and can develop into different directions: New interpretations for the meaning of the jewellery; technical or constructive approaches; critiques about materialistic values, or concepts from an associative, anecdotal or a humoristic point of view.

From the beginning of my professinal practice I developed two paralel lines in my work : product design and jewellery design. In jewellery design as well as in product design concepts for one-offs and for serial production.
Within the concepts for serial production the re-interpretation of the function or the production process is a main issue in the challenge to find innovative solutions for form related to the way it can be produced.

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