Jeweller Icons 02: Margaret De Patta
A pioneering art jeweller, Margaret De Patta was a true avant garde of her age. She referred to her work as ‘wearable sculpture’ and was highly influenced by the Modernist movement, Bauhaus and Constructivism. While studying painting in New York in the 1920s, she became a self taught jeweller, drawn to creating fresh new directions that merged art with the wearable.
She first started to experiment in 1929, when it came to her own wedding ring. Unhappy with the ring she had commissioned, she spent 2 months with a metalsmith learning the basics of working with metal. Still not satisfied with the result, she persevered and her experiments took her in new directions, pushing the boundaries of what jewellery would be, especially for her time.
In the 1930s and 1940s she rebelled against the dominant aesthetics of the post-war era and instead aligned herself with some of the most innovative artists of the time. She was heavily influenced by Laszlo Moholy-Nager and created kinetic pieces that were strongly Constructivist. She also loved using quartz and worked with a lapidary specialist to create original cuts of this stone to play with light reflection. An amazing original, she is considered one of the most important American jewellers of her time.
A pioneering art jeweller, Margaret De Patta was a true avant garde of her age. She referred to her work as ‘wearable sculpture’ and was highly influenced by the Modernist movement, Bauhaus and Constructivism. While studying painting in New York in the 1920s, she became a self taught jeweller, drawn to creating fresh new directions that merged art with the wearable.
She first started to experiment in 1929, when it came to her own wedding ring. Unhappy with the ring she had commissioned, she spent 2 months with a metalsmith learning the basics of working with metal. Still not satisfied with the result, she persevered and her experiments took her in new directions, pushing the boundaries of what jewellery would be, especially for her time.
In the 1930s and 1940s she rebelled against the dominant aesthetics of the post-war era and instead aligned herself with some of the most innovative artists of the time. She was heavily influenced by Laszlo Moholy-Nager and created kinetic pieces that were strongly Constructivist. She also loved using quartz and worked with a lapidary specialist to create original cuts of this stone to play with light reflection. An amazing original, she is considered one of the most important American jewellers of her time.