Katharina Eder
Jeweller
Published: 11.02.2021
glasperlenschmuck.com
Katharina Eder lives and works in Mödling, near Vienna, amongst a big collection of old and new glass beads. She is an autodidact and has been working with glass beads and their textile processing techniques since 1992. She runs her own workshop as a textile artist.
Statement
Glass beadwork has a long tradition in Austria, which reached its peak in the 1920s in the course of the Wiener Werkstättenbewegung (Art Deco) in artistic jewellery production.I am fascinated by these small-scale, precise, and colourful designs. Through years of collecting and processing over hundred-year-old antique glass beads, I come very close to this past. My method of working is slow and persistent, taking many hours to finish a piece of jewellery. In this time my pieces can unfold, change and develop a life of their own. Sometimes something completely different than planned arises and that pleases me very much!
As an autodidact, I am less bound to norms and strict ideas of how to do something. This gives me great freedom in dealing with materials and processing techniques. Dissatisfied with the smooth, perfect surface of conventional glass beadwork, I decided to break new ground. The role of textile threads in glass bead works has been catching my interest ever since. On one hand, it carries a basic role as a means of connection, it contributes to the colour and the structure of the workpiece. In my small-scale series Fadenspiele, I have given the textile thread a defining role.
I have been working with magnetic closures for many years, which I find to be a practical and simple solution for my necklaces and bracelets. Over time, I have reworked, modified, or cast these magnets in epoxy resin. The next step was to build magnetic brooches that could be pinned directly to clothing without destroying the garment with pins. The goal was to bring the old-fashioned brooch into a modern form.
My ambition was to be able to change a piece of jewellery over and over again utilizing a magnet, to offer the greatest possible room for the imagination. The step to a modular magnet system for chains, bracelets, or rings was a small one. In the last years, I have dealt intensively with magnetic systems and created wearable jewellery modules.
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