October 2006
Jewels by Stefan Hemmerle
Though jewels and precious stones have been around for billions of years, humans have developed very few modes of presenting them in jewelry. Until the early twentieth century, jewelers recycled past designs and old traditions. In the 1950s, such artists as Alexander Calder and Lucio Fontana broke with tradition to create dazzling pieces of auteur design, which showcased the costliness of the materials, the talent of the jeweler and presumably, the wealth of the wearer. Jewelers stayed within these aesthetic confines for decades. Recently, new artists have taken a radically purist perspective on jewelry design. Munich jeweler Stefan Hemmerle has led this international aesthetic movement by showcasing precious stones in sleek settings that convey his talent without gratuitous displays of virtuosity. From November 18 until February 18, 2007, the Neue Sammlung design collection of the Pinakothek der Moderne will present several of these pieces in "Myths: Jewels Today seen by Stefan Hemmerle."
