Destiny, precise moment, living spirit. These are just a few of the words Jörg Domeisen uses to describe what it was like to continue the family tradition of becoming a goldsmith, a tradition which his family established in Switzerland in 1460.
The love affair started on a wet, grey morning in Zurich, when I was on my way to meet Liz Domeisen. I walked past a shop that beckoned me inside — eccentric gold shapes cradled stones I had never seen before, and diamonds sparkled under the spotlights of a futuristic shop front, that, when I looked up, read Domeisen. As I enter, I immediately realize that this is the address mentioned in my email to meet Liz, the Zurich shop manager and wife of Jörg, jeweller and the creative force behind the business. I start making my way around the shop, falling into a trance. As I looked up to see a petite lady smiling at me. “Can I help you?” — I nod, and explain who I am. “Great, nice to meet you! Was it hard to find?” she says with a slight American accent. She’s wearing all black, a slouchy and comfortable skirt and a drapey sweater, with her short pixie haircut making her seem all the more delicate. A warm and calm presence surrounds her as she takes me to the back of the store and offers me an espresso.
Very quickly I find out that she and her husband, Jörg, have two locations, the original atelier in Rapperswil, located by the Zurich lake, and this one, their second shop that opened in 2013.” We both went to the California College of the Arts," she says "and after graduating in 1998 came back to Zurich to take over Jörg's family business. I studied an MFA in Painting and Jörg holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture and Ceramics.”
Jörg’s creative process is best described as a constant build-up of information. “He is always ready to create” she smiles, “because he is continuously collecting materials that he draws inspiration from; ingredients, thoughts, drawings, wishes…” His working space is a product of this accumulation, with objects surrounding him in an organized chaos.
Working sculpturally is a dominant element when defining his process, and is an obvious force when narrating the style of jewellery the goldsmith creates. Each piece, made by hand, is like a small sculpture and possesses it’s own story and life. He strongly believes that stones have many lives. “Stones are the protagonist in a piece and placed or played into a story, they are poetic amongst the landscape of the metal.” Each piece has it’s own path, elaborates Liz. “Some rings may stay with us for years just waiting for their home, they both need to find their match, find each other.”
Creatively Jörg and Liz are in constant dialogue over their jewellery pieces. “There is a constant urge, like a well which needs to be filled up again.” she says. “Staying active, is everything for him, mind and body balance, "Mens sana in corpore sano " is his current mantra - which means - a sound mind in a sound body.”"
They have fixed weekly meeting hours, where they go through current work and discuss future projects. “We call these our fantasy pieces, they are more like drawings, ideas and models." She says. "For years we’ve picked a day to sit down over a coffee and decide which ones to work on next. This is a time for us to really be creative together." Because they are so artistically connected to each other, they actively bounce ideas off of one another. “For a few selected finished pieces, I write a text based on an interview that I do with Jörg,” she says. “You are so close to the product and it helps to take some distance and understand the piece through the analysis and exploration of the mind of the maker. It helps us to understand our direction. Then, I experiment with different ways to write a text. Sometimes it’s narrative, sometimes poetic. I may do a painting or a drawing to accompany the piece, and some materials have been realized into books.”
In the process of creating a jewellery piece, a lot of creative work is involved. “Drawings, paintings, models, customed made jewellery/book boxes, books we've made for specific jewellery pieces, which we call collectors items,” she says. “Many of our clients collect both art and jewellery. They are happy to find something different, we don't mass produce. Each piece and customer are treated personally by me or Jörg.”
For the future, Liz is interested in doing a traveling exhibition with Jörg's divorce ring sculpture and other art pieces, such paintings and collectors items. “It would be interesting to bring them all together and show them with jewellery.” She mysteriously smiles.
Domeisen Jewellery Zurich, In Gassen 7, 8001 Switzerland
Domeisen Jewellery Rapperswil, Rathausstrasse 9, 8640, Switzerland