NOW!

Perhaps Norman Weber – as a native of Schwäbisch Gmünd – was born with a love of jewelry. Following a traditional training as a gold and silversmith in Kaufbeuren-Neugablonz, where he teaches today at the State Vocational College for Glass and Jewellery, he studied with professors Hermann Jünger, Otto Künzli and Horst Sauerbruch at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Here the then 25-year-old began his search, together with his colleagues Karl Fritsch, Peter Bauhuis and Karen Pontoppidan, for new paths and definitions in contemporary jewelry. Today Norman Weber is the storyteller in the contemporary studio jewelry scene. For example with the brooches from his series “Portraits”, which investigates clichés such as Barbie dolls. Focusing on a particular area of interest – popular images, comics and populist icons – the artist enmeshes the images in perfectly executed constructions – Weber is after all a goldsmith through and through – thereby giving them a new home. At times the critical jewelry artist places these figures in a completely new context. In this way jewelry is moved in the direction of pop and takes on the character of shrill fashion emblems. Precious stones made of velour in jewelry conjure up a smile on the lips of a viewer before he even begins to reflect on the meaning of the spurious stones. But Norman Weber not only tells stories. Other pieces are shaped by underlying constructivist elements – convincing jewelry because their mechanical elements are infused with an exciting dynamic.

This monograph provides a first survey of the oeuvre of this talented jewelry master. Exhibition in the Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau from 2nd September 2010 and further venues thereafter, in Munich and Schwäbisch Gmünd.

Text in English & German.