Marit Bindernagel
Forging her path in life
- Marit is a master silversmith and goldsmith
- She specialises in forging
- She makes sculptural jewellery and tableware
“When I was at school I always thought you have to keep the things you really love as a hobby to be completely free,” says Marit Bindernagel. But then she had the opportunity to intern in the workshop of Wolfgang Otterpohl in Halle/Westfalen, where she realised that the opposite could be true. “The experience was completely different from the idea I had before; I learned that a profession can be a passion and that craft comes to life through that passion.” After training at the vocational school for glass and jewellery design in Kaufbeuren-Neugablonz, Marit worked with jewellery makers Ulla and Martin Kaufmann for 11 years before opening her own workshop. Her work is poetic and minimalist, exemplifying excellence in craftsmanship.
Interview
- What's your creative process?
- At the start I usually don't think of how to make something, but where I want to go. If I then realise that my knowledge is not enough, I look for ways to close the gap through improvising and developing new techniques. It's usually a smooth transition between tradition and innovation.
- So tradition and innovation naturally build on each other?
- Innovation has a long tradition in artistic handicraft. An artisan can access, use and build on knowledge that has been handed down over thousands of years. But they can also experiment outside the box by using their understanding of materials and techniques.
- How do you create the sculptural appearance of your pieces?
- The biggest and most important part of my work is forging. That's my specialty. Forging surfaces, deforming, bringing material into tension, creating an expression. That applies to jewellery as well as to tableware.
- Where does your inspiration come from?
- Primarily nature and my environment, but also music; I made a very elaborate chain with the title Florestan und Leonore referencing the Beethoven opera. Sometimes it is just a simple beach pebble that feels so wonderful in my hand; that inspired me to make my sugar spoon Däumling.
Marit Bindernagel is an expert artisan: she began her career in 1997
Where
Marit Bindernagel
