Jewellery manufacture
Embossing
Research, preservation and documentation
Jewellery is one of oldest everyday items known to humankind. Men, women, children - nearly all of us wear some kind of jewellery, on our body or on our clothing, for our own pleasure, to please others or to underscore our individuality. Jewellery can also tell us about a person's age, profession, status or cultural affiliation.
Bracelets, rings, earrings, pendants, brooches, necklaces, cufflinks, tiepins, hatpins, combs and hair slides, and even spoons and serviette rings are today manufactured by a combination of machine work and work done by hand - just as they were around 120 years ago."How do men and women manufacture jewellery today?" is the starting question of the Jewellery Manufacture exhibition. It focuses attention on the frequently plain and unadorned working world behind an ornamental everyday item.
Men, women, machines and products
Half-finished brooch produced in the museum. The relief has been embossed, and must now be given its final shape.
All the machinery and tools on show were collected over the past 20 years - and thereby saved from the scrap heap. They now serve as demonstration production units for the museum, while film footage provides a deeper documentary insight into the history of jewellery manufacture.
The exhibition has a special role to play in researching, documenting and preserving the processes and techniques, some of which are otherwise dying out.
In addition
Processes and techniques
Six video clips show the traditional processes and techniques used in jewellery manufacture
"Jewellery connects"
In the past art historians have only been interested in the artistic side of jewellery, and knowledge about the sophisticated processes and techniques used in jewellery manufacture has sunk into oblivion. The specialized know-how was neither preserved...