Beauty may be in the Eye of the Beholder, but when viewing jewelry by German artists Georg Dobler or his wife, Margit Jäschke, all eyes see the beauty of each piece. Although the couple’s approaches are quite dissimilar, their respective works are, indeed, connected by this common thread. Big and bold, they each make jewelry that is easy to wear but simultaneously challenges convention. Be it Dobler’s necklaces, brooches and rings, fabricated from darkly oxidized silver and huge faceted gemstones or shards of glass, or Jäschke’s colorful epoxy and bright silver, or gold-plated silver, necklaces and brooches, the visual impact is consistently arresting.

Each artist utilizes structure, surface, texture, and color to create jewels of perfect proportion and gestural grace. They both derive inspiration from undulating natural forms, as well as linear geometric shapes. Dobler sometimes combines twigs, buds, leaves, or beetles cast from actual flora and fauna, while at other times, he utilizes strict rectangular or spherical elements. Jäschke, on the other hand, juxtaposes metal and minerals with inorganic substances like cardboard, epoxy, lead, and plastic, creating jewels that may be voluptuous or spare. Jäschke also makes larger works that display the same aesthetic integrity as her jewelry. Although both Dobler and Jäschke assemble their chosen materials, where Dobler’s compositions rely additionally upon negative space and/or saturated hues, Jäschke often opts for visual disparity within dense pictorial imagery.

Georg Dobler and Margit Jäschke live in Halle, Germany. They have both been included in numerous international solo, duo, and group exhibitions. Dobler, a jeweler of international stature, is a multiple winner of the prestigious Herbert Hoffmann Prize and is represented in countless museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Arts and Design, and Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim; Die Neue Sammlung, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; MAK-Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; National Gallery of Australia, Parkes; and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montreal. Jäschke’s work is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey; CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands; and in Germany: Grassi Museum für angewandte Kunst, Leipzig; Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus, Hanau; Chemnitz Museum of Natural History, Chemnitz; and Moritzburg Kunstmuseum Halle (Saale).