Through his departure from traditional jewellery, Bernhard Schobinger denies jewellery its function as a status symbol and makes it into a vehicle for expressing a universal critical voice.
The ring is a significant cultural reference in our society: it bears a coveted diamond or is a symbol of togetherness. This is not the case with Bernhard Schobinger! His objects created over the last 45 years reflect artistic and social developments. The ring as the witness of an era: concrete art, the aesthetics of punk, postmodernism and so on.
Bernhard Schobinger is one of the most provocative, critical, and artistically inspiring contemporary jewellery artists, who has revolutionised his craft. He has turned away from conventional materials, in favour of those that have an emotional quality or a conceptual value. These can take the form of old rusty nails, used for making a ring, or a direct reaction to 9/11 by engraving an aeroplane into the ring. He interprets the piece of jewellery as a contemporary witness of our society. The book is based on an overview of nearly all the rings that Bernhard Schobinger has created over the last 45 years. It is conceived as a reference work and documents nearly half a century of the design and creative power of this Swiss artist. Bernhard Schobinger was awarded the Grand Prix Design (2007).
