Design in Vienna
“A Symbiosis of Innovation and Tradition” WIEN PRODUCTS Collection
Wolfgang Köchert, Herbert Schullin, Rainer Mutsch, Stefan Knopp, Alexander Skrein and Christoph Köchert (from left to right), © Klaus Pichler
For the WIEN PRODUCTS Collection, jewelers Alexander Skrein, Christoph Köchert and Herbert Schullin have worked with designers outside of the jewelry scene. The idea behind the WIEN PRODUCTS Collection is to bring together Viennese businesses with designers. Alexander Skrein “I teamed up with Stefan Knopp on this project because he is not a designer in the traditional sense. He is a wood artist and a fascinating lateral thinker who creates wonderful furniture with dazz ling charisma. I discovered him several years ago at the Blickfang Design Fair and immediately recognized my jewelry in his objects. His approach is the following: he takes wood from a 300-year-old oak, cuts a sheet out of it, allows it to dry, chars it in the fire and combines it with iron to make a table. In this way, he gives the material life. It’s also important to him that the wood he uses for his work comes from trees that have already reached the end of their natural lifecycle. His work gives them a new kind of life. For him, it wouldn’t make sense to cut down a tree for the sake of his work alone. Conversely, he is also very fond of my jewelry designs and has had me make jewelry for his wife. I gave Stefan Knopp full reign when it came to this project. His design has to do with the symbolic power of the originality of wood; it’s about free structures, about emotion and haptics. We translated this ‘liberated power’ into three rings made of gold, platinum and a cut diamond solitaire.” Christoph Köchert “We were on board with the WIEN PRODUCTS Collection from the very beginning, because we think the idea of traditional Viennese companies working with young designers is brilliant. We’ve already worked with the design duo Danklhampel, with Thang de Hoo, Sebastian Menschhorn, Thomas Feichtner and Julia Landsiedl; this year we’ve partnered with Rainer Mutsch. Very few of these designers have worked with jewelry before, so it’s important to us that they understand how a goldsmith or stone cutter works: which gems qualify, how they are cut, whether or not new shapes can be tried out for the stones, how the stones are set afterwards, and so on. In short: what are the possibilities and where do the goldsmiths and gemcutters run up against their 56
limits? Personally, this collaboration is always a pleasure. It’s a joy to be taken beyond the limits of your own mind, and our goldsmiths are also encouraged to develop new techniques. It also brings in new customers – a lot of people are astonished to see that a traditional company like Köchert enters into these kinds of projects. I think dealing with young, contemporary design is absolutely vital.” Herbert Schullin “The work with external designers came out of a cooperation with the University of Applied Arts Vienna, with whom I’ve have very good experiences; several very nice designs have already made their way into our collection. The process goes like this: first, we establish a certain direction, then we discuss the initial ideas and sketches and test the feasibility of their realization. Finally we do a virtual mock-up of the design – a 3-D construction that we then use to come to an agreement with the designer about the design idea and its realization. We are trailblazers in this business when it comes to applying 3-D design, because we started using it very early on. It helps us refine design concepts in advance. The whole idea behind this project is to give the designer free hand, though there is of course a lot of room for interpretation when it comes to the way the design is implemented, and industry-specific requirements play a significant role in the outcome. What I expect from these projects is new stimuli and ideas – an expansion of our company’s creative signature, to a certain extent. This is not the first time, and it is always an exciting challenge for us. In my opi nion, the constant search for new ways of designing is the most important challenge in my profession right now. It’s only when the innovative part, or the idea, can enter into symbiosis with the traditional, or craft, that making jewelry becomes a really interesting thing.”
WIEN PRODUCTS was initiated by the Vienna Chamber of Commerce in 1995. Its purpose is to give selected, top-quality product manufacturers the opportunity to market themselves internationally under a single umbrella brand. All WIEN PRODUCTS members have made it a special priority to allow the charms of the city to come alive in their products. www.wienproducts.at