"Jewellery connects"
Collier - designed by B. Joho, Theodor Fahrner; around 1905
Researching and preserving traditional processes and techniques used in jewellery manufacture
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 nor handed down, and it no longer forms part of the state-regulated training curriculum either. That is why the countrywide "Jewellery Connects" working group was founded in 2005. Its members are experts in processes and techniques (some of which are dying out), specialists in various trades and representatives of the Pforzheim Jewellery Museum and the German Museum of Technology, Berlin.
Their aim is to research and preserve jewellery manufacture techniques at their historic production locations in Pforzheim, Hanau, Schwäbisch Gmünd and Idar-Oberstein. Jugendstil jewellery is the first area where the special process techniques are to be researched, preserved and documented.
Belt buckle - designed by P. Huber, Theodor Fahrner, 1901
Collier - designed by G. Kleemann, Victor Mayer, 1895
In the Jugendstil era, from the 1890s to the 1920s, jewellery of a high artistic and design quality was manufactured in series. A combination of machine work and manual work made it possible to manufacture fine jewellery that became affordable for a wider public all over the world. That led to a "democratization of luxury" in everyday life.
Important designers of the day, such as G. Kleemann, L. Habich, P. Huber and J. M. Olbrich, worked for the Pforzheim jewellery industry, which became the world market leader in jewellery manufacture. Jewellery manufacturers such as F. Zerrenner, Victor Mayer or Theodor Fahrner won numerous gold medals and other awards at contemporary world exhibitions and were thereby able to hold their own against French competition.