NOW | JEWELS BY NORMAN WEBER

Overview

“To me jewellery often seems an ‘indecent medium’.” The creations of Norman Weber contain all those hidden and obvious qualities which make contemporary studio jewellery so fascinating: brilliance and glamour, humour and mysteriousness, pomp and spectacle. His works embody sophisticated, interdisciplinary concepts between fashion, design and artistic extravagance, goldsmith tradition, perfection and provocation. They are jewellery pieces that – like a demanding work of art – require connoisseurship. After his training in Kaufbeuren-Neugablonz the young Norman Weber was drawn to the artists’ city of Munich, to the Academy of Fine Arts, to Hermann Jünger, Otto Künzli and Horst Sauerbruch. Here is where the then twenty-five year old began his search for innovative paths in contemporary jewellery. Today he is passing on this experience and knowledge at educational institutions in Stockholm, Göteborg, Amsterdam, Wismar and Halle.

His jewellery quickly develops a completely autonomous, unusual aesthetic and complexity. Every one of his unique inventions is developed and prepared with élan, commitment and extreme subtlety. Odd structures, lavish constructions, entertaining objects are joined together in cycles, for example, “Private Myths”, “House & Garden”, “Portraits” and “Display Pieces”.

Observations and reflections, family photos and childhood memories play a central role and are often embedded in adventurous compositions in an enigmatic form. With tongue in cheek the goldsmith has convinced us: jewellery can be intelligent and cunningly imaginative, and can conform to another form of beauty. At least his does.

A first survey of the oeuvre – a compendium of the last 20 years – of this talented jewellery master. Norman Weber invites the reader on a journey through his surreal, fantastic world of jewellery.

Authors:

Ellen Maurer Zilioli | Bernhard Schwenk | Barbara Vinken