The otherworldly allure of natural fragments
- Jil’s jewellery begins with fragments found in nature
- She invented a special material blend, which she refers to as Diomant
- Her work evokes the beauty of dreamlike worlds
Jil Köhn’s jewellery begins far from the studio, in forests, riverbeds and open fields. This is where she collects pebbles, fossils, bark and branches. These get cast in a material she developed herself, using ancient minerals such as iron sand, malachite and ultramarine ash. Jil calls it her magic formula, a mixture she adjusts to suit each object’s weight, shape and colour. Her pieces are not traditional jewellery but sculptural memories. She calls them Diomants, not to suggest luxury but to evoke something sacred and otherworldly. Jil studied jewellery design at HAWK Hildesheim under Georg Dobler, yet her artistic path is entirely her own. "My jewellery expresses a nostalgia for a place beyond time,“ she says. In her hands, jewellery captures natural sensations, echoes dreams, and opens a portal to imagined landscapes.
INTERVIEW
I often come across these objects at the most inconvenient moments. Once, while jogging, I caught a glimpse of a branch with a perfect curve and a knot that seemed to follow the golden ratio. I did not stop, but the image lingered in my mind. Eventually, I turned back and spent half an hour searching until I found it. To this day, it still feels like that piece chose me.
At a Berlin fair, a boy saw my jewellery and shouted, “Look, Mama, so many diomants!" He did not know the word for what he saw, so he made one up. It felt magical and exactly right. That is why I kept it.
It is when I follow my gut. I work best when I am calm enough to hear that quiet inner voice. In my working process, I do not plan or sketch. When I listen to my intuition, I also often overcome challenges that I would never have tackled using logic alone.
Talk to people who already do what you want to do. Find mentors, ask questions. Know your strengths and weaknesses, and build your path accordingly. For example, if you love selling more than making, focus on fairs and series work. If you love the bench, find support for the business side.
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