Angelika Stemer

Engraver

Talent on the tip of a chisel

Angelika is one of the very few women who engraves on weapons
She uses just a simple burin or chisel, and a small hammer
Her designs are all hand-drawn, without using stencils

Angelika Stemer always wanted to express her creativity through craftsmanship. She discovered how during a visit to the Federal Higher Technical School (HTL) in Ferlach, Austria, where the craft of gun makers and engravers has a very old tradition. “I decided without hesitation. I had to take an entrance exam, which confirmed I had enough talent to learn the profession,” she says. Today, Angelika creates her engravings by hand in her studio in Munshausen, Luxembourg. She decorates firearms, knives, jewellery, wedding rings and any other metal object. “Engraving is not merely a handicraft. It expresses a love of detail and a passion for tradition, and reveals the talent and skills of the engraver.”

Interview

Did you learn from a master?: During the summer holidays I completed several practical training programmes, mostly with weapon manufacturers, where I was allowed to help the master engravers. After completing school, I accepted a job in France making handmade prototypes for brass costume jewellery.
Were you influenced by anyone in particular?: When I was working in France, an elderly man who was an engraver invited me to visit his studio. His work was very impressive and only later did I learn that he was a famous engraver in this region. He was very modest, though a great engraver, and that really impressed me.
What is your speciality?: My engravings are purely handmade. I do not use machines, neither with electricity nor with compressed air. I use a hammer and a chisel or a burin. I make ornamental decorations with writing and realistic representations of animals.
What inspires your work?: I am inspired by nature, animals and plants, but also by my work and assignments of the past. Everything I have ever encountered and experienced inspires me, in fact. Engraving is subject to certain traditions, but I like to transform them and create something completely new.

Angelika Stemer is an expert artisan she began her career in 1992