Michael Zobel, one of the leading jewellery designers in the world, was invited by the organiser of the Amber Trip Fair to sit in the jury of the international art competition organised for the first time. The Fair also included a seminar, where – in an interview by Giedymin Jablonski – Michael Zobel gave a summary of his 40-year artistic oeuvre. We talked to Mr Zobel about his amber fascinations.
Did you find any interesting amber pieces at Amber Trip?
Yes, I bought a few small amber roses; I was enchanted with their beauty.
Do you know already what you will make of them?
Of course! Usually, when I see a stone, I immediately know how I could set it.
Are you still making jewellery, even though you have passed on your studio to your successor?
Three years ago I handed the helm of Atelier Zobel to my successor – Peter Schmid was my student and I am very pleased with my work with him. I still drop by to the studio where I can work when I feel like it – and therein lies the difference! (laughs) I don’t want to retire completely just yet. Especially that this year the Atelier Zobel will celebrate its 40th anniversary – in August we plan to open a retrospective exhibition at our Constance studio and to publish a new, third book entitled A to Zobel. There’s an article for each letter of the alphabet, for instance A for atelier, B for beryl, D for diamond, G for Gdansk. A lot is happening this year and a lot will keep happening... Actually, I have even less time now than before.
It’s nice that Gdansk and amber are so important to you that you will devote space to them in the book.
My contacts with Gdansk remain strong through my friends, artist Giedymin Jablonski and Amberif Executive Manager Ewa Rachon. I remember how a few years ago Ewa came to my stand, and, looking at my combination of diamonds and amber, said that she had never seen anything like that before. She couldn’t have seen it because amber is mainly used to produce cheap silver jewellery. Whereas it is such a lovely material that it is a waste to deprecate it this way! To me, my experience working with amber was fascinating, especially combining diamond, the hardest material of all, with amber, one of the most brittle materials. I see amber as a precious stone – because all beautiful stones are precious.
But amber isn’t even a gemstone, only a fossil resin...
But it’s so fascinatingly beautiful that for me it’s a precious stone. At the turn of the millennium we held an exhibition on jewellery with amber when, with amber’s age in mind, I said, “One millennium for 20 million years.” That exhibition revolutionised both the market and the way amber is perceived, at least in Germany.
Stones seem to play a decisive role in your jewellery.
To me, the stone is the central element in jewellery and it is often that the stone determines the eventual form of the piece. In order to achieve a singular harmony, you need a fascinating stone with an intriguing cut to underscore its beauty; only then can you begin to work the metal. I have always been fascinated by the dialogue between the stone and the metal in which it is set. And the contrast which emerges thanks to the use of diverse materials, which allows you to achieve / attain harmony. And that is probably the quintessence of jewellery.
What other materials do you like using?
A variety of them, depending on the periods in my work and fashion trends. My favourite used to be emeralds, especially when I discovered that there were not only classic emeralds with the octagonal emerald cut, but also cloudy ones, which are less translucent and come from the Ural Mountains or India. I also like to use rubies and again not necessarily those which are classically beautiful. Then I discovered amber that is only partially cut and polished, which allows you to look inside it. There have really been a lot of different materials and I’ve always tried to set them in a unique way.
The name Zobel now ranks among the foremost in world jewellery art.
It’s not for me to judge, but if it is so, then I’m really very happy to hear it. For 40 years we’ve been striving to meet the aesthetic demands of the individual and sophisticated tastes of both women and men, by introducing our customers to the world of art. I recently saw some of my works from 20-30 years ago at auction houses where the prices were at least half as high as for what they were sold originally. I’ve also read that jewellery by Atelier Zobel is an attractive art investment, at least in the German market. Personally, I wouldn’t buy a woman jewellery just because it’s a good investment of capital because the most important thing is to please the person I give it to and myself as well, of course. Nevertheless, I’m very pleased to hear such news.
What do you say when you see a woman wearing your jewellery?
I congratulate her on her choice (laughs)...
