Discover Germany  |  Special Theme  |  Switzerland’s Finest Jewellery and Watches 2018

Ring in 18 carat yellow gold with diamonds.

Earrings in 18 carat white gold with diamonds.

TEXT: NANE STEINHOFF  I  PHOTOS: NICOLE GROB

With fire and passion “I create my jewellery pieces for people with courage, for those with exceptional spirit and love for life. Free, wild and of magical beauty.” This is how gold caster Nicole Grob puts her work in a nutshell. Nicole Grob has always had two dream jobs: archaeologist and goldsmith. Today, she combines both. In her studio in Rapperswil at Lake Zurich, she creates creative jewellery pieces from earth’s most precious treasures – with a long forgotten, ancient gold work technique. The gold caster explains: “My creations have a unique, distinctive signature as I work with the 5,000-year-old goldsmith technique of fire casting that is barely used today.” During fire casting, gold gets melted in the open fire and then poured into a hollow form that was prepared by hand. “When gold becomes soft and liquid, it starts to shine like the setting sun in the sky of a hot summer day. It’s pure alchemy, the transformation of elements. It fascinates me. When I dig them out of the 20  |  Issue 59  |  February 2018

charred sand, some pieces are more magical than in my most adventurous imagination,” enthuses Grob. “When I started to experiment with fire casting, it was the unforeseeable, the unpredictable that made me experiment until I mastered imperfection in perfection. From my jewellery creations I demand them to be exactly that: perfectly imperfect. Free, wild, strong and beautiful.” Like this, a magical interface between ancient gold work and imperishability that transcends time and space emerges. Her creative pieces are individual, each jewellery creation is manufactured by hand and all materials get carefully chosen. Thus, only highly qualitative gemstones, flawless diamonds or the finest pearls are used in Nicole Grob’s studio.

“Because we only have this one planet, I work as responsibly as possible. Using ecological gold for all jewellery is a matter of course, as is the close collaboration with Swiss suppliers,” says Grob and adds: “Manufacturing jewellery from the most precious treasures of this planet that accompanies the wearer a lifetime, is probably the most beautiful thing.”

Nicole Grob.