Orsolya Karman

Bio

Orsolya Karman is a contemporary jewelry artist based in Vienna, Austria. She holds a Master of Arts in Visual Communication from the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), Budapest.
Her practice is rooted in graphic design, visual systems, and material experimentation, exploring jewelry as a spatial extension of two-dimensional composition. Positioned between art and design, her work investigates the relationship between structure, movement, and the body.

With a professional background as an art director and over twenty years of experience in visual communication, she applies principles of reduction, precision, and visual logic to her work. Using laser-cut techniques, industrial materials, and architecturally informed geometries, she develops compositions that translate graphic language into three-dimensional wearable structures.
Her works are produced in limited series and reflect an ongoing inquiry into jewelry as a concept-driven, body-related medium.

Statement

My practice explores jewelry as a spatial extension of graphic thinking. Rooted in visual communication, it investigates how two-dimensional systems can be translated into three-dimensional, body-related structures. I approach jewelry not as ornament, but as a constructed visual language in which form, movement, and concept operate as a unified system.
Material and process are integral to this exploration. I work with laser-cut techniques, industrial materials, and precise construction methods, combining technological processes with manual intervention. Through this, I aim to establish a balance between control and openness, precision and transformation.
My background in graphic design informs a methodology based on reduction, clarity, and visual logic. Rather than adding, I seek to distill — allowing structure and proportion to define the work. Each piece becomes a system: a composition that unfolds in space and through use.
The work is developed in limited series and reflects an ongoing inquiry into jewelry as a concept-driven medium positioned between art and design.


Collections / Series
Phenomena 2026
Phenomena is a series of brooches exploring optical perception through layered graphic structures. By combining precise laser-cut elements with transparent materials, the works generate shifting visual effects that change with movement, light, and viewing angle. Rather than functioning as static ornaments, the pieces operate as perceptual studies, translating interference patterns and graphic systems into wearable spatial constructions activated in relation to the body.


Layers of Celebration
This jewelry series explores the fragile gravity of celebration, where fleeting moments settle into memory and layer into our identity. At its core lies the profane symbolism of the muffin paper, a modest yet fundamental emblem of festivity, deeply rooted in childhood and shared memories. Through repetition, layering, shifts of scale, and contrast, it is transformed into sculptural jewelry, where the ephemerality and fragility of paper meet the permanence of acrylic glass. The delicate layers evoke both joy and absence, while the clarity of glass preserves the intensity of memory. Each piece emerges as wearable art, honoring past gatherings, the enduring moments of shared life, and the layered fabric of our memories


New Dimension 2024–25
New Dimension is a collaborative jewelry collection developed in dialogue with visual artist Käthe Schönle. The project translates Schönle’s layered screen-printed works into three-dimensional jewelry structures, exploring the transformation of graphic language from two-dimensional surface into spatial form.
Through a dialogue-based process, elements such as color systems, compositional rhythm, and overlapping structures are reinterpreted as sculptural jewelry objects. The collection maintains the visual logic of the original works while introducing a tactile and dynamic dimension through material layering.
Positioned at the intersection of visual art and contemporary jewelry, the series examines how graphic composition, color interaction, and material structure converge within wearable form.


Edge
Rooted in the legacy of 1970s conceptual art and minimalism, Edge explores reduction, precision, and spatial clarity. Geometric forms are distilled to their essential structures, where linear elements and folded planes generate balanced, architectural compositions. Each piece is meticulously hand-cut and folded through a time-intensive process, resulting in jewellery that is restrained, rigorous, and structurally defined. The collection investigates the relationship between flat surface and spatial construction, positioning jewellery as a precise, constructed form.


Deco
Deco revisits the formal language of Art Deco Bakelite jewellery from the late 1920s and 1930s through a contemporary perspective. Rather than referencing historical aesthetics directly, the collection abstracts characteristic geometries and translates them into a reduced, graphic system. By integrating bold forms with controlled composition, the pieces maintain a sense of clarity and structure. The collection situates itself between historical reference and contemporary construction, avoiding nostalgia in favour of reinterpretation.


Evoke
Inspired by Op Art, 1970s visual experimentation, and the work of graphic designer Burton Kramer, Evoke investigates the transformation of graphic systems into spatial compositions. Through rhythmic lines, stripes, and geometric patterning, the pieces generate optical tension and visual movement. The brooches in particular function as compact visual fields, where perception shifts through interaction with light and viewing angle. The collection operates between image and object, activating graphic language in three-dimensional form.


Fabula
Fabula explores narrative through symbolic and visual abstraction. Drawing from the illustrative world of Hungarian artist Károly Reich, the collection reinterprets figurative and narrative elements through layered construction and compositional structure. Rather than direct representation, the works translate narrative into visual suggestion. Colour relationships and form generate a poetic, open-ended reading, where meaning is constructed through association. The pieces balance playfulness with structural clarity, situating storytelling within a spatial and material framework.

Bloom Sense
Bloom Sense investigates organic growth through layered structures and rhythmic composition. Inspired by botanical forms, the collection focuses on transformation, variation, and material sensitivity. Each element is individually cut, shaped, and formed, resulting in subtle variations and spatial layering. The works translate organic processes into controlled constructions, where repetition and difference coexist. The collection reflects an interest in the intersection of natural form and systematic composition.
 

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