It’s a challenge to introduce Hans Stofer with words as he is so much more a man of works. It comes as no surprise that he does not only join AUTOR as a new jury member in 2019 but also as one of the artists that will show their works at Halucinarium in the contemporary jewelry exhibition “Welcome to enter…”.
Let us just say that after training as a precision engineer he focused on studying jewelry and design at the Zurich School of Art. His works are part of a variety of public collections, including: Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; The Crafts Council Collection, London; Nottingham Castle Museum; Danner Stiftung, Munich; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; The Potteries Museum, Stoke on Trent, UK; MUDAC, Lausanne; Schweizerisches Landesmuseum, Zurich; Louis Koch Collection, Basel; The National Museum of Art, Achitecture and Design, Oslo. He is currently a Professor at the University of Art and Design Halle (Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle) and his solid academic career spans forty years, including eleven years as a Professor and Head of MA Programme, Jewellery & Metal at the Royal College of Art in London.
What engineering skills are most useful to you as an artist?
Turning rational thinking into something irrational, personal and biographical – and that the skills you bring to a discipline are important because they influence the way we think. But also that a focus on skills can kill the magic if they are not used sensitively and intelligently as part of realizing the artistic vision.
What is the most interesting thing you learnt at the Royal College of Art ? The most interesting experience you co-created ?
It does not matter if you are at the Royal College of Art, or in Halle where I now work. Either you are an artist who has something to say or not. It is a gift that you have or not. And that, regardless what or who we are, we all have a voice that deserves to be heard.
New jury member at AUTOR 2019 and one of the artists of “Welcome to enter..”, the contemporary jewellry exhibition which is a premiere for AUTOR. What are your best hopes for the first visit to Bucharest ?
Interest, openness, to enter into a dialogue if need be.
Looking to the future, what does contemporary jewellry need ?
People who have an imagination and who are willing to buy and wear the work that is being made.