What jewelry looks like by a jeweler who is called "the most inventive living German" (9 photos)

Fish wrapping their scaly tails around the hand crystals and bird figurines, roughly carved heads with frozen archaic smiles ... No, this is not a museum collection of antique jewelry - they were created by our contemporary, a resident of Germany, “the most ingenious living German." But how not to suspect Otto Jacob that he is a real time traveler?





Ring for your beloved



Pendant and ring in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance.

Otto Jakob started making jewelry in seventeen years of age. Here is how it was. The future jeweler spent holidays in Italy with his girlfriend (and later wife) Veronica. Walking through the Roman streets, they noticed a merchant of jewelry. Veronica liked one ring. "Yes, I'm much better for you I'll do it!" Otto stated. But he did not throw words into the wind, and soon he beloved boasted to her friends of a beautiful ring in the form of two flowers. So Otto quickly became popular - though so far exclusively in the circle of his friends and girlfriends. However, so he received his first orders, first fees and faith in his calling.





Earrings in antique style.



Earrings in the old style and in the shape of starfish.

Being a person who has been passionate about art since childhood and is very gifted, for a while he, of course, dreamed of a career professional artist and even seriously engaged in painting under under the guidance of the famous master - neo-expressionist artist Georg Baselitz, one of the most expensive contemporary painters. However quickly realized that he did not have much success in the field of "serious" art to acquire - the competition is too high, too much has already been said ... And found other teachers.

Otto Jakob Universities



Renaissance-inspired pendants with unexpected details.

Here is the solution to the mystery of Otto Jacob's "timeless" jewelry, the word would be created by the hand of a jeweler of distant times. He emphatically rejected all newfangled trends and turned to bygone eras. work with gold he studied under the treatises of Benvenuto Cellini, and borrowed images and forms, interpreting in their own way, among the masters of ancient Etruria, Celtic artisans and nameless jewelers of archaic Greece. Much more time than many spend on the university bench, Otto examined the old decorations and sculptures in museums. But at first he doubted whether he would understand someone his work? And until now, these doubts do not leave him. And for everything arguments about museums, large collections and auctions Otto Jakob answers simply: "I'm lucky so far!".



Pendants in the form of hands.

His very first collection attracted attention: almost completely bought by Jacob's past mentor, Georg Baselitz. But the jeweler wanted recognition of the general public.



Earrings with casts of wings and pea pod motifs.

In 2008, his work was presented by the TEFAF gallery, with which Otto cooperates to this day. At exhibitions of avant-garde jewelry Jacob's creations looked like literally guests from the past and evoked interest mixed with bewilderment. Nobody could believe that it wasn't a stand with antique jewels displayed "for contrast".



Earrings by Otto Jacob.

The jeweler had to repeat again and again: “Yes, it was done me, yes, literally last week, no, they are not a thousand years old. However, the raid of antiquity did not bother clients and gallery owners at all - Otto Jakob pretty soon gained both wide popularity and well-paid orders.



Pendants in the spirit of the Romanesque era.

Today, the works of Otto Jakob coexist in exhibitions with creations of such "monsters" of jewelry design as Wallace Chan and Cindy Chao - and next to them look like aliens from other worlds.

His loyalty to TEFAF is a phenomenon of particular order. Nowhere but exhibitions TEFAF in New York and Maashirt, his work cannot be seen. Except, perhaps,about his own workshop on the ground floor two-storey building in the spirit of Art Nouveau - in the city of Karlsruhe. Like the jewelers past, Jacob lives and works in the same place. Besides him and teams in the workshop are "working" ... cacti. Yes, great collection. cacti - there are natives of the Kalahari and guests from Saudi Arabia ... their honorable mission is to inspire. And, apparently, they are great with her. cope.

From Sketch to… Text



Morning star pendant and earrings.

With inspiration, Otto Jacob, in general, never had problems. In his youth, he so quickly came up with more and more new decorations, ideas so chaotically swarming in his head that sometimes there was even time for a sketch - rather fix it, if only not forget! Otto simply wrote down his thoughts in a notebook so that he could return to him later. Yes, and his sketches were never detailed - a set of lines and spots, a generalized form, a hint of the main idea ... However eight faithful assistants (they themselves are laureates of many awards in the field of jewelry art) understand it from a half-word ... or from a half-line. The master himself, however, was never interested in awards and prizes - only the embodiment of their ideas.

Grasshopper and gold



Earrings with insect motifs.

Drawing ideas not only from the past, but also from the beauty of nature, Otto Jakob combines the seemingly incompatible. In his jewelry complexly designed, multi-component, you can also find casts of wings grasshopper, and the shape of a walnut, and the figures of the Celtic gods, and iridescent chameleons from stained glass enamel.



Fantastic enamel pendants.

The designer is one of those masters who does not experience reverence for "noble" stones and metals, and therefore in one The decoration combines glass and diamonds of rare shades, gold and resin. Special processing of gold, partial oxidation and patination, gives decorations have an even greater touch of antiquity. Jacob loves "natural" crystals, but, unlike many modern avant-garde jewelers, does not allocate a leading role for them and does not raise them to a cult. Cut precious stones in his jewelry is not just traditional - it made according to ancient technologies, revived by a German jeweler.



Pendant with crystals.

The most “budget” jewelry by Otto Jacob can be purchased for seven thousand dollars. And - to infinity. He pays no attention advertising and does not care about promotion. At the same time, it is clear that the need for his workshop does not test his clients, and the works are still reserved long before they were created. And he himself, looking back at the creators of the past, sensitively responds to the challenges of the present - for example, one of his pendants in the spirit of Renaissance is a richly decorated hand with a mask plague doctor and is dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic.