Franz Bette: Red X Thread

For his project Red X Thread, Franz Bette has developed an entirely new work complex, in which he advances his artistic approach – based on his experiences in Asia. Since 1989 Bette has been a regular guest in Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Through exchanges with workshop participants there, he has cultivated new sensibilities to aesthetics, materiality and workmanship.

Whereas his ‘Western’ design vernacular has long been informed by steel, silver, gold and plastic, he has now expanded this with materials such as porcelain, paper, bamboo, wood and textiles. He incorporates these into his jewellery objects, all the while conscious of their traditional use and significance in Asia. Cord is used to supplement the wire, sometimes replacing it entirely. By introducing paper the works become increasingly ephemeral. With his current jewellery objects that, far removed from all monumentality, shift between spatial drawing and sculpture, Franz Bette occupies a unique position in the international art jewellery scene.

This is echoed in the unique book design by the Paris design office VIER5, which showcases the exciting interplay between large-format reproductions of Franz Bette’s objects and texts available in three languages (Chinese, English, German).

A special book on a jewellery artist who masters the art of bringing together Eastern and Western design traditions and uniting them in a sensitive way to form autonomous objects of poetry.


Exhibition: Red X Thread: Franz Bette – Jewellery, ALIEN Art, Kaohsiung (TW), 15.2.–23.6.2019