about ute decker - sculptural jewellery artist

 

The works of Ute Decker are described as “a powerful statement” that “sets a shining ethical example” (Financial Times).  The Economist 1843 compares her “avant-garde sculptural pieces” to “swirling sculptures” while Christie’s simply calls them “wearable works of art”.

 

Background - The Minutiae of Experience in Making

 Ute Decker’s pieces express a joyful lightness of being: sculptural form liberated through a unique series of fleeting gestures. 
Each fluid stroke of metal is hand sculpted using intuition and the minutiae of experience that led to that particular moment of making; from growing up on a vineyard in Germany, relishing connected moments in nature; to diverse cultural experiences studying a degree in Political Economics and later, working as a journalist and translator; informed by knowledge of contrasting mediums such as clay and larger scale sculptures; and finally, to her studio bench - bending line and space, creating free-flowing forms of minimalist and calligraphic beauty. 

Concept and Process - Emptiness and Creative Meditation

Ease of movement between emptiness and fullness, air and materiality, are intrinsic to Ute’s aesthetic: be it a curvilinear hand sculpture that draws our attention to the negative space billowing into its curves, or an architectural neck piece offering endless configurations, allowing the wearer to freely mediate empty space and engage in its creative possibilities. 

Ute’s interest in emptiness as a sculptural medium is born from her enduring engagement with the philosophy of Zen and the concept of ‘The Empty Mind’, in which we are free from the illusion of a separate self and can understand the interconnectedness of all things. 

When Ute expertly draws emptiness into her work - a moment of repose in the piece - it becomes all the more powerful as we focus intently on the contrasting line of material, analogous to the rhythmic pauses of a musical composition. We stop and we listen; we are drawn out of the unfurling activity of a chaotic world.

Orbit - sculpture

transforms into a wearable sculpture for the arm

The Concept of Play in the creative process

The concept of play is as equally important to Ute’s practice; it nurtures both the artist and the wearer’s relationship to her work. Ute first explores forms using garden wire, which is then translated into a brass maquette. She wears this maquette for months - interacting and playing with it, understanding its personality, guiding it through tiny adjustments as she experiences it on her body, until intuition tells her she is ready to make the final wearable sculpture piece. 

Next, Ute works for many uninterrupted hours in her studio; based on her intimate knowledge of the maquette’s shape, she gathers a soft, dynamic flow of energy into making - akin to the practice of calligraphy - arching, folding and moving line until finally, it rests. During this process, it is vital to Ute that she uses only her intuition and does not engage her mind - if there is any self-conscious pause to interrupt the fluid movement, then, she says, “all can be  lost".

Wearable Sculptures - Transforming Moments

Respecting Nature - Provenance and Fairtrade gold

Teaching and Sharing of Knowledge on Responsible Jewellery Practices

Ute’s stewardship of this world-changing movement ensures a lambent purity of language in her work - the beauty of her wearable  sculptures  is guaranteed inside and out. 
Pioneering in both form and concept, its haptic and material verse is one that is hard to forget. It tells a story that resonates deep with human life upon this earth: of how we are always coming into being, marked by the soft yet indelible movement of gesture. 

 

We have agency within this narrative - to play, to innovate, to commune, to seek a moment of repose, so that we may reflect on the interconnectivity of a universe much greater than ourselves.

 

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Ms. Phillips (jewelry curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum) said Ms. Decker’s work was an example of the sensitivity to materials that makes contemporary jewelry so exciting… “Like contemporary art, it’s jewelry that makes you think,” she said.

read full article in the International New York Times

Rachel Garrahan, Jewellery and Watch Director at British Vogue, on selecting only 40 pieces from the wealth of talent on offer at the Goldsmiths’ Fair 2022 to represent the “now” – our life and times, and the matters that captivate and concern us, writes:

"As this summer’s own blistering heat demonstrated, the urgency of combatting the climate crisis has never been greater. Ute Decker was a pioneer in this respect, putting ethical sourcing at the top of her list of values long before it was fashionable to do so. It’s heartening now to see it becoming accepted practice among an ever wider group of makers, who take on this complex and thorny issue with the research and commitment it deserves."

“jewellery that makes a powerful statement…
this sculptural jewellery sets a shining ethical example"

Financial Times, How To Spend It

"the architectural jeweller" 

Financial Times

“Ute Decker won international acclaim
for jewellery that is as much sculpture as body adornment”

FT How to Spend It

“The master of the sculptural jewel"

Carol Woolton, Vogue

“Ute Decker has built a reputation for striking,
minimalist pieces made in Fairtrade gold”

FT How to Spend It

"Ute’s pieces will be future icon of jewellery art"  

Didier Haspeslagh, Gallery Didier

“Ute Decker is the first name that comes to mind
when the words sculptural and jewellery come together. She creates jewels that look just as striking sitting on a museum-style black block of wood as they do on the body”

The Telegraph Luxury

“Ringing the changes at Goldsmiths’ One of the designers [Zaha Hadid] has picked is Ute Decker, a German political economist-turned-journalist-turned-jeweller whose designs also show the fair's change of pace. She makes avant-garde sculptural pieces that look like… swirling sculptures. …producing her minimalist designs using Fairtrade gold”

The Economist, Intelligent Life / 1843

"Ute Decker’s arrestingly beautiful creations – wearable sculptures
to adorn the hand, arm or neck – caused a considerable stir when they erupted onto the jewellery scene in 2009, instantly establishing her as one of the UK’s most exciting new studio-jewellers. Aptly described as ‘architectural jewellery’, the sweeping scale and ambition of her pieces, married to their minimalist design and unfettered originality, have since earned ute recognition from prestigious galleries, acclaim from the international press and collectors..."

Goldsmiths’ Company - Who's Who In Gold And Silver

The queen of green:
How Artist Jeweller Ute Decker is spearheading the fight for sustainable jewellery

Tempus meets Ute Decker, a trailblazer of the ethical jewellery movement and advocate for change

Artist Jeweller Ute Decker was has long been ahead of the curve.

 A trailblazer of the ethical jewellery movement and advocate for change, Decker was one of the first Fairtrade Gold licence-holders worldwide, and one of the first jewellers to launch a collection made entirely from such material. The limited-edition, wearable sculptures that have become her signature – all of which are individually hand-crafted – have garnered notable acclaim. Not limited to jewellery showcases, the avant-garde pieces have been presented at art and design shows across the world, including Masterpiece London, Design Basel and Paris’ Art Elysées, as well as being selected by the late Dame Zaha Hadid to showcase at London’s Goldsmiths’Fair.

Tempus Magazine