Carte blanche to David Bielander

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David Bielander, a Swiss designer living in Munich, trans­lates every­day elements into jewellery. Objects such as prawns, pine­apples, beetles or rasp­ber­ries are imme­di­ately recog­nis­able, yet discon­cert­ing. The aim of his trompe-l’oeils is not to mystify the viewer but to set up a humor­ous inter­play between the wearer and the jewellery itself. David Bielander seeks out the most suit­able mater­i­als and tech­niques with which to simu­late real­ity, yet it is not until his pieces are worn that they truly come to life. His Slugs pins launch a slither­ing attack on the neck­line, the Snake neck­lace writhes around the throat.

Having trained as a gold­smith in Basel, Bielander gained a Masters from the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in 2002, where he stud­ied under Otto Künzli, master of concep­tual jewellery, whose influ­ence can be seen in both a deep under­stand­ing of the mater­i­als and the tech­nical skill gained from this demand­ing train­ing. He has recently been awar­ded numer­ous pres­ti­gi­ous prizes includ­ing the Munich Förder­preis in 2009; the Herbert Hofmann Prize in 2010; and the Françoise van den Bosch Prize and the Swiss Federal Design Award, both in 2012. The exhib­i­tion will feature a selec­tion of his pieces in a setting designed espe­cially for his work, a world away from tradi­tional museum glass cases.

With the support of ProHel­ve­tia.