Sitting on the lake in Zurich, I’m thinking about my journey to date. . . .
Everything starts in Basel, the city of incredible art collections and hometown of a famous art fair. I grew up there and didn’t miss many of them.
If I were to pinpoint a formative experience of my childhood, it would be when my father took me with him to do fieldwork near Basel, where one can find prehistoric artifacts. A seed was sown—there I learned the importance of being curious about what is out there to discover, culturally and in nature as well.
After finishing high school, it was clear to me that I wanted to go to art school, but I embarked on a technical education first. This taught me the critical significance of function and another aspect of making that I continue to be obsessed with today—details. I moved on to studying jewelry making at the art school in Zurich. It was a fantastic experience—the only limit was that the pieces should be wearable (function, again). During this time I refined my eye for detail, not only in jewelry but also in a variety of interests that inform my jewelry making: architecture, painting, sculpture, music, film, and gardening. In everything I was always seeking harmony.
After finishing school, I was ready to open my own business in Zurich. I love having my things around me, so my gallery became more and more like a living room—my living room. Many people came to see me there; some became clients, and others faithful collectors who have been with me since the beginning. For two years we also operated a beautiful showroom in Milan on Via Montenapoleone. There was an incredible response to the work in magazines and we were profiled on CNN with Elsa Klensch. Neiman Marcus was ordering our pieces for their shops in Beverly Hills and San Francisco. It was all very exciting, but not exactly what I was looking for.
I want to concentrate on creating one-of-a-kind pieces, ideally for a specific individual who inspires me. Of course, this is often a very intense process. We brought our jewelry to a larger audience through projects at places like Artcurial in Paris or the Nomad design showcase in Monaco. Others may come. We were and still are so lucky to be able to let our imagination explode.
There is little we haven’t done, from voluminous bracelets that serve as wearable sculpture to intricate diamond necklaces and chandelier earrings. Right now we are working on a small collection of sculptured pieces, just working on the metal, no pavé settings, but maybe an important stone or pearl. We started with a necklace, with a wonderful Baroque pearl, and now we are designing a ring with a double-colored sapphire, and then we will see.
I’m always ready for a new adventure. I recently realized that so many of our pieces are hidden away in private collections, so I think we should do a book. We love to collaborate with artists, graphic designers, musicians, and filmmakers, to challenge ourselves by producing magazines and videos that communicate a certain part of our creativity and mood.
Maybe that’s enough for the moment. Now I’ll jump in the lake and have a swim. . . .
Photos: courtesy Christophe Graber