Wood-framed diamond and broccoli brooches: Hemmerle's fashion rebellion

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Jewelry house Hemmerle is known to fans of unusual jewelry for its naive broccoli brooches and cupcake earrings - it seems that the brand was created just yesterday by young and daring designers. But it all began at the court of the Prince Regent of Bavaria more than a century ago …

At the head of the jewelry house, four generations of craftsmen have changed - and now the change is growing up. Its founders were brothers-jewelers Joseph and Anton Hemmerle, who opened their workshop in Munich in 1893. At that time, the government of Bavaria sought to encourage local craftsmen in every possible way. After just a couple of years, the Prince-Regent of Bavaria invited the enterprising brothers to work as artists and chasers of all kinds of royal regalia, medals and orders. As official suppliers to the royal court, the brothers showcased their work at the World's Fair in Paris. There Hammerle with its chasing and enamels, in general, did not make a sensation, but they looked worthy and earned high marks from viewers and experts.

Soon they opened their own shop on one of the main streets of Munich, Maximilianstrasse, house eighteen. There it is located now, together with the workshops. The heirs of the Hemmerle house never tire of repeating that this place is full of mysteries - not so long ago, Christian and Yasmine Hammerle discovered there a whole box of old stamps for orders, which were later reworked to create modern stylish decorations.

And at the beginning of the 20th century, the Hammerle brothers had no time for daring experiments - they were already in great demand with their impeccable classic jewelry, silverware and all sorts of military attributes. The royal house of Bavaria and numerous noble families did not let the brothers breathe, filling up with orders. The most honorable of them was the Order For Achievements in Science and Art, established by decree of King Maximilian II of Bavaria at the end of 1853. The order of Maximilian is still being created by the masters of the Hammerle house.

Years passed, the jewelry house did not give up its positions. However, Karl and Lore Hammerle, the heirs of the famous brothers, understood that they needed "fresh blood", new ideas. The sixties were raging in the yard. Karl and Lore's son, Stefan, was completing his jewelry education and preparing to take over the reins. It was Stefan Hammerle who completely changed the spirit and philosophy of the brand, while remaining true to the ancient traditions of German crafts, inspired by the nature and history of his native country.

For example, in 1995 he created a minimalist ring made of … high-tech steel. This strange material served as the setting for a unique diamond. Stefan explained that he was prompted to these experiments by the story of patriotic Germans during the Napoleonic wars, who replaced their gold jewelry with cast iron - after all, they donated gold to the War of Independence, and the tragic color and weight of cast iron served as a reminder of the fallen. From that moment on, Hemmerle designers never tire of trying new things and destroying the usual ideas about materials - precious woods, copper, stainless steel, aluminum, concrete … However, soon the fashion world got used to jewelry for atypical materials - but Stefan was preparing a new revolution.

His research led him to discover the long-forgotten Austrian technique of "jewelry weaving."Perfectly cut beads and other elements are manually strung on silk threads, which allows you to work more widely with the shape, volume and color of jewelry. The process is laborious and time-consuming, but worth it. However, the public was not surprised by the new technologies - and then Stefan and his designers took up the development of new images.

It all started … with a children's book. Stefan and his niece read a book about mushrooms - edible and deadly, about their structure and variety. And suddenly he seemed to see something familiar for a long time - and immediately sketched several unusual sketches. The natural world so captivated him that several "edible" collections were presented to the public.

The most popular became the vegetable one - along with it, a book of recipes for traditional vegetable dishes was published, illustrated with photographs of Hemmerle jewelry, eggplants, peppers and cabbage heads studded with diamonds. Hemmerle's "plant" collections are made in a very naturalistic way. Sometimes an oak leaf or physalis can be mistaken for a real one!

Since members of the Hammerle family are not the only brand designers and carefully select employees who are able to combine tradition and modernity in their concepts, they themselves can afford long searches, research and travel in search of new things - both sources of inspiration and materials. In recent years, young Hammerles have managed to obtain the rarest brown diamonds of the Mughal era, ancient carved jade, natural orange Chinese pearls and Brazilian aquamarines in a unique blue hue. Christian Hammerle believes that the main thing is to find the very stone, one of a kind, and then create a design and frame that will emphasize its beauty and spirituality.

One of the latest Hemmerle collections is dedicated to ancient Egypt. Having visited the museums of antiquities in Cairo, Hammerle was delighted with the bright and at the same time laconic images of Egyptian art, the rhythm of abstract ornaments, which they immediately wanted to translate into modern materials.

When you come to work at Hemmerle, it is not so easy to part with him. The number of masters is very small, and they are all co-authors of the chapters of the house. It takes a lot of time to "grow" a master, cooperation with whom will be successful and long. Now there are only young employees in the company - they have to hone their style for several years before they are allowed to create something on their own. However, youth in Hemmerle with its long history is a relative concept, and after twenty years of work it can be considered the “young generation”. The oldest jeweler of the house Hemmerle is about eighty, but no one is going to retire!