Annemie De Corte

Silversmith

©Stanislas Huaux

Poetry woven in silver wire

Annemie creates jewellery and sculptures in silver wire
It can take her 1,000 hours to make one piece of jewellery
She teaches at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp

Annemie De Corte was 12 years old when she decided to become a jewellery artist. She graduated in goldsmithing and jewellery design from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1989 and the National High Institute of Antwerp in 1992. She started creating her first silver wire works after several journeys through Indonesia: she was deeply influenced by eastern crafts and applied arts made by local craftspeople, who employ native materials to create their unsigned objects, which anyone can then use for everyday purposes. “I discovered the presence of beauty in these forms and techniques,” she says. Now, using traditional methods, she painstakingly shapes her own, delicate world of proportion, movement, light and shadow.

Interview

Why did you choose this particular craft?: My fascination for precious metals, skills, crafts, conceptual and contemporary art influenced the decisions I made when I was 18. The first object I created was a necklace, which is now owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
How do you express the tradition of jewellery making in your work?: In contemporary jewellery the line between art and craft becomes blurred. It’s my endless admiration for nature that gives me an emotional motive to start my work. And besides that, there's my passion, my knowledge of materials and the skills that allow me to experiment, shape and create.
What do you love most about your job?: Creating art pieces that nobody else does with a lot of love for the technique used to make them. I am proud of being able to share this passion with the public, and also of passing on my know-how and love for this unique craft to my students.
Has there been a special moment in your professional life?: A collector once sent me a letter with a plant root that he had found in his garden, and which looked very similar to one of my pieces. The letter included a Latin phrase that read 'Art imitates nature but surpasses it'. This touched me more than all the important moments in my professional life.

Annemie De Corte is a master artisan: she began her career in 1989 and she started teaching in 1990