The assignment Its starting point are historical ornaments which are part of traditional costumes. This year jewellery designers are invited to select a traditional ornament from a costume tradition and come up with a new form and/or application for it.
The student prize:
This prize was awarded to Claudia Schmedding from Germany, a student at the Düsseldorf academy. Her entry is called Seiltänzerin, tightrope dancer. Her starting point was the rich traditional costume of German farmers’ wives, a costume tradition in which lace and lace-like finished materials, and refined silverware, worked in repoussé, stand out.
Her acrylic rings varying in size and enclosed in silver beads or pearls border on an intriguing edge, according to the jury.
Her work is rendered fragile as well as refined by the transparent rings. Not only do the beads form the connecting link between the rings, but they also serve as a historical reference to the manifold folkloristic applications of granules in both ornaments and textiles. Schmedding’s work can be as opulent as the way in which farmers’ wives display their wealth by wearing strings of necklaces simultaneously. The accumulation of her necklaces creates a monumental image.
The jury feels that Schmedding has found an intriguing balance between theme, idea and execution.
