Exclusive: Hemmerle's Craftsmanship, Legacy, And Beyond

At the vanguard of contemporary design, Hemmerle, a fourth generation family-run business founded by Joseph and Anton Hemmerle in 1893, is quintessentially German. Appointed as the ‘Purveyor to Court’ by Prince Regent of Bavaria, the brothers built an illustrious business by handcrafting medals and ornaments for Bavarian royalty. For the next two generations, the brand’s creations were influenced by the rigorous discipline of the early 20th-century Bauhaus and New Objectivity design movements. Run from a boutique on Munich’s Maximilianstrasse street for over a century, the heritage jewellery brand is a now tight-knit design democracy of Stefan Hemmerle, his wife Sylveli, son Christian, and daughter-in-law Yasmin. “As a family, we are fortunate enough to share the same vision and direction for Hemmerle,” says Christian, explaining the family’s conscious decision to steer away from broader audiences to create unique pieces. Gems and materials are often the starting point for each handmade one-of-a-kind jewel.

Image: Dirk Bader

The brand’s creativity is driven by the use of rare materials such as 18th-century antique cameos or Egyptian miniature mosaics. One can see a courageous use of brass, copper, steel, and wood as backdrops to exceptionally intriguing gemstones like tsavorite, tourmaline, and rubellite. “We don’t use unconventional materials just because they are different—it truly goes back to the fact that we want to give each gemstone the perfect home,” explains Yasmin.

Earrings with spinels, tourmalines, white gold, and silver.

Ring with sapphires, tanzanites, silver, and white gold.

All Hemmerle pieces are handcrafted at their Munich-based atelier with 18 highly-skilled craftsmen. “We thoroughly study and research every material we source so that we can understand it and put it to its best use,” she adds. Showcasing at the eighth offering of Masterpiece London, a fairly new jewellery exhibition, Hemmerle’s newest pieces draws inspiration from around the globe. Some of the unexpected materials seen in the new collection are Shiva lingam stones collected from a river bed in India or coral beads from a Portugese shipwreck. They also have signature styles such as the open-ended harmony bangle, structural pieces with geometric lines, and necklaces with chains knitted across cut stones using an old Austrian technique, hung with a luxuriant tassel, which they bought back from obscurity. Owing to their collectible value, these stones are timeless, lending a very distinct visual code to their present-day, jewellery designs. “No two Hemmerle jewels are ever alike, because no combination of materials is the same.Which is why we don’t create collections, each piece speaks for itself. Although it’s always a risk, we never get bored of experimenting,” he adds. Swiftly blending the vocabulary of sculpture with functional demands of design, they strike the right balance between using traditional techniques and new processes. “Being a historic jewellery house, the challenge is to create pieces that remain relevant to new generations while respecting our past. We aim to achieve this by always looking forward, trying to push our creative boundaries, never resting on what we have achieved so far, and by trying to challenge ourselves,” says Christian. In an industry saturated with fast-fashion, Hemmerle aligns itself closely with art. “Our aim is to fulfill an aesthetic; the time it takes to create our pieces means we will always be specialised contemporary artists. We would like to see high-jewellery more widely recognised as art,” says Christian. Befittingly, Hemmerle’s clientele is mostly composed of art collectors. When asked about his most prized creation, Christian laughingly says, “My grandfather used to say that you can’t love one child more than the other, whilst referring to his jewellery creations. This lesson has stayed with me all these years and very much informs the brand’s ethos.”