Day One: Schmuck Fair

One million hours of flying and one sleeping pill later – we arrived in Munich ready to start the day. Schmuck was being held in a large convention centre a short train ride from our hostel. Once we entered the Jewellery section of the fair we were met with a large room full of both ‘art’ jewellery, more commercial industry and related fields like watch making, handcrafted clothing, hats and shoes. Several renound contemporary galleries appeared in stands at the fair including Galerie Ra, Galerie Marzee, Platina alongside Chrome Yellow Books. It was both overwhelming to see so much jewellery and in hindsight quite a gentle introduction to the Shmuck week to have everything so neatly laid out for us in one place. A veritable sampler plate of very high quality work had been curated together in Schmuck 2015, Talente 2015, the exhibiting galleries and the artists in attendance through the EXEMPLA 2015 program.

Robert Baines and David Bielander were both set up in mock ‘workshop’ stands with examples of their pieces, processes, and tooling, giving visitors a chance to peek inside the artists’ studios and ask them questions. David Bielander spoke to our group (the first of many brushes with fame) and discussed his career from his initial training in traditional goldsmithing to his current position - the (relative) comfort of being able to live from his contemporary jewellery practice. Bielander took us through his process, describing it as the complete reversal of how Helen Briton (his studio and life partner) makes pieces, in that he begins with a clear picture of what he wants to make, then spends years searching for the perfect material to realize it, instead of working from deep material research from which conceptual and design ideas can spring.  A particular point really struck me and I continued to think about it long after his talk… Beilander said that he make jewellery which might not look like jewellery but when it is worn it feels like jewellery. I find this description of physically ‘knowing’ or ‘understanding’ the identity of something really interesting. I believe it is related to my interest in viewers ‘discovering’ something in my pieces when they interact with them, whether that is through kinetic response to touch, a surprising underside revealed when turned over or through some other technique/event of interaction.

In the afternoon we traveled to Peter Bauhuis’ studio. There, he spoke to us about his work and showed us many examples. It was interesting to see the repetition throughout his space, there was a frenetic energy in the piles of notes and sketches, photographs, dioramas, waxes and cast metals objects around the room. Bauhuis’ driven exploration of hollow forms has lead him to hold this archive of similar but constantly different shapes, all exhibiting a great interest in the ‘interior/exterior’ dynamic. Bauhuis’ treatment of surface is particularly interesting; Bauhuis discussed the precision of his organically occurring surfaces. He noted that while accidents - uncontrolled outcomes – are an essential element in his pieces, those accidents occur within carefully constructed parameters that he arranges. The limitations and boarders around experimentation that he puts in place enable his practice to be focused and refined, organized chaos if you will. Bauhuis’ relatively large studio, which is solely inhabited by himself, lead the group to a brief discussion about real estate, the cost of studio and living space and the realities of being an artist in this city.

We rounded off with dinner. Which I’m sure was delicious but I was too exhausted and my brain was too busy churning over images and ideas to notice. What an excellent first day.