Design Talk | Karl Fritsch: Jewelry on the Edge

Cooper Hewitt welcomed Wellington, New Zealand-based artist Karl Fritsch. Playful and tough, intricate and coarse, Fritsch’s avant-garde pieces challenge the concept of what jewelry, and sculpture, can be. Joined by Fritsch Jeanne Greenberg Rohaytn, owner of Salon 94 and Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, Curator of Contemporary Design. SPEAKERS Karl Fritsch began his education at the Goldsmiths School in Pforzheim and studying at the Academy of Fine Arts (1987-1994) in Munich. Fritsch has taught in art schools across the world, exhibited internationally and his work has been acquired for public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the National Gallery of Victoria and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. A practice that focuses on the ring, Fritsch explores taste, aesthetics and desire as he manipulates perceived ideas of preciousness and convention. The highly covetable rings have seen him win numerous awards and become a cult figure in contemporary jewellery. He also works collaboratively with a range of artists, including artist Francis Upritchard and furniture designer Martino Gamper. In 2006 he received the highly prestigious international Françoise van den Bosch Award. Alexandra Cunningham Cameron is a curator and writer based in New York. She is Curator of Contemporary Design and Edward and Helen Hintz Secretarial Scholar at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Fo