Hemmerle is a Munich-based jeweller founded in 1893 by brothers Joseph and Anton Hemmerle. [1]
Anton and Joseph Hemmerle established Hemmerle by taking over an established goldsmiths’ company specialising in medals and orders and in 1895 they are appointment 'Purveyor to the Court' by Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria by Royal warrant of appointment to create medals for the Royal Bavarian Court, Bavarian Order of Merit. [2] The Hemmerle boutique at 14 Maximilianstraße opened in 1904 and remains there today. [3]
Today, Christian Hemmerle, Joseph's great-grandson, manages the company along with his wife Yasmin and parents Stefan and Sylveli. [4] [5] Christian and Yasmin Hemmerle, Stefan and Sylveli’s son and daughter-in-law joined Hemmerle in 2006. [6]
Stefan Hemmerle in 1995 designed a ring for the wife of a Munich art collector, in response to her practice of wearing Berlin iron jewellery (which Germans received in exchange for donating their gold and silver jewels toward funding the War of Liberation). He set a diamond in textured iron rather than in gold or platinum. The combination of common metal with a precious stone was unusual. [7]
Hemmerle, is the exclusive maker of the Bavarian Order of Merit [2] since it was instituted in 1957 [8] as well as exclusively responsible for the making of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art since 1905. [9]
Hemmerle jewellers use gemstones including orange-pink sapphires, green diamonds or conch pearls. [10] often set in unorthodox materials such as copper, steel or wood. [11] [12] Each piece is designed as a unique creation. The family use materials including South China Sea Melo pearls [13] or blue aquamarines from Brazil's Santa Maria mines.
Hemmerle's styles include the tassel earring, created using a traditional Austrian technique of knitting together cut stones often in bright colours into invisibly stitched strands. [14]
Hemmerle's Harmony bangle was included in the permanent collection of the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in October 2010. [15]
In 2011, the Hemmerles co-wrote a book Delicious Jewels with the chef and author Tamasin Day-Lewis, published by Prestel Publishing. [16]
Hemmerle's Harmony bangle, Egyptian Story, 2012, became part of the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City in January 2013. [17]
In 2014 the company designed a jewellery collection titled Nature's Jewels consisting of twelve brooches, two pairs of earrings, a necklace and a ring, with themes of fruits, seeds, leaves and trees. [18] The company also published a poetry book, Nature’s Jewels. [19] through the art-book publisher Mack with poems by Greta Bellamacina. [20]
In 2016 Hemmerle announced The [AL] Project, a series of jewels exploring the properties of aluminium, previewed at TEFAF in Maastricht. [21] In the same year, Hemmerle participated in Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. This is the fifth instalment of the Triennial exhibition series. [22]
In 2018 Hemmerle celebrated its 125th anniversary with two projects. [23] The first was Hidden Treasures with creations inspired by its past as a medal-maker [9] and the second was the Revived Treasures project with a body of work that paid homage to Egyptian civilisation. [24] [25] The project included twenty four one-of-a-kind creations, sixteen of which incorporated ancient Egyptian artifacts that were treasure-hunted and collected over the past decade, one creation incorporated a 19th century artifact and seven creations were inspired by Egyptian motifs and culture. [26] [27]
In 2019 a Bishop’s Pectoral Cross created by Hemmerle in 1900 joined the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The cross was designed by Hemmerle’s founders - brothers Joseph and Anton Hemmerle - for the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris, where it was awarded one of the show’s prizes. [28] [29]
Hemmerle jewels have been part of numerous exhibitions worldwide including Canada, the United States, Japan, Australia, France and the UAE, amongst others. Exhibitions include: Myths: Jewels Today – Seen by Stefan Hemmerle, Die Neue Sammlung, the State Museum of Applied Arts and Design, Munich, Germany (2006); Pearls, travelling exhibition (2001-2008); The Nature of Diamonds, travelling exhibition (2008-2010); The Pearl Exhibition, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar (2010); Serpentina: The Snake in Jewellery Around the World, Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim, Germany, (2010-2011); Pearls, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (2013-2014), and Beauty - Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial Archived 2020-09-09 at the Wayback Machine , Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York USA (2016). Archived 2020-09-09 at the Wayback Machine
Jewellery consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western perspective, the term is restricted to durable ornaments, excluding flowers for example. For many centuries metal such as gold often combined with gemstones, has been the normal material for jewellery, but other materials such as glass, shells and other plant materials may be used.
A tiara is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Iran, which was then adapted by Greco-Romans. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women at formal occasions. The basic shape of the modern tiara is a semi-circle, usually made of silver, gold or platinum and richly decorated with precious stones, pearls or cameos.
A necklace is an article of jewellery that is worn around the neck. Necklaces may have been one of the earliest types of adornment worn by humans. They often serve ceremonial, religious, magical, or funerary purposes and are also used as symbols of wealth and status, given that they are commonly made of precious metals and stones.
A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, such as charms. Medical and identity information are marked on some bracelets, such as allergy bracelets, hospital patient-identification tags, and bracelet tags for newborn babies. Bracelets may be worn to signify a certain phenomenon, such as breast cancer awareness, or for religious/cultural purposes.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facilities located in New York City, along with the National Museum of the American Indian's George Gustav Heye Center in Bowling Green and the Archives of American Art New York Research Center in the Flatiron District. Unlike other Smithsonian museums, Cooper Hewitt charges an admissions fee. It is the only museum in the United States devoted to historical and contemporary design. Its collections and exhibitions explore design aesthetic and creativity from throughout the United States' history.
Art jewelry is one of the names given to jewelry created by studio craftspeople in recent decades. As the name suggests, art jewelry emphasizes creative expression and design, and is characterized by the use of a variety of materials, often commonplace or of low economic value. In this sense, it forms a counterbalance to the use of "precious materials" in conventional or fine jewelry, where the value of the object is tied to the value of the materials from which it is made. Art jewelry is related to studio craft in other media such as glass, wood, plastics and clay; it shares beliefs and values, education and training, circumstances of production, and networks of distribution and publicity with the wider field of studio craft. Art jewelry also has links to fine art and design.
Wartski is a British family firm of antique dealers specialising in Russian works of art; particularly those by Carl Fabergé, fine jewellery and silver. Founded in North Wales in 1865, the business is located at 60 St James's Street, London, SW1. The company holds royal appointments as jewellers to Charles III, Queen Camilla and the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Dorothy Wright Liebes was an American textile designer and weaver renowned for her innovative, custom-designed modern fabrics for architects and interior designers. She was known as "the mother of modern weaving".
Elizabeth Gage MBE is a British jewellery designer and trained master goldsmith who has been creating collectable jewellery for over 50 years. She has been described by the trade as someone "whose large rings, historical references, gorgeous stones and elaborate craftsmanship set the tone for a whole generation".
Carlo Giuliano (1831–1895) was a goldsmith and jeweller operating in London from 1860. He started work in Naples for Alessandro Castellani and was sent to London to establish a branch of the Casa Castellani. He left Castellani's employ in the early 1860s and in turn worked for Robert Phillips, Harry Emanuel, Hunt & Roskell, and Hancocks & Co - all leading London jewellers. In 1875, he set out on his own, starting a retail outlet at 115 Piccadilly, and specialising in Renaissance-style design.
Linda MacNeil is an American abstract artist, sculptor, and jeweler. She works with glass and metal specializing in contemporary jewelry that combines metalwork with glass to create wearable sculpture. Her focus since 1975 has been sculptural objets d’art and jewelry, and she works in series. MacNeil’s jewelry is considered wearable sculpture and has been her main focus since 1996.
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Diana, Princess of Wales, owned a collection of jewels both as a member of the British royal family and as a private individual. These were separate from the coronation and state regalia of the crown jewels. Most of her jewels were either presents from foreign royalty, on loan from Queen Elizabeth II, wedding presents, purchased by Diana herself, or heirlooms belonging to the Spencer family.
Bibi van der Velden is a Dutch jewellery designer and sculptor who uses unexpected materials and shapes in her creations. She is also the founder and creative director of Auverture, a contemporary jewellery platform.
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