By Ela Casati | Fashion Journalist
The introduction of AI and 3D printing technologies is one of the biggest conversations in creative industries today, especially in fashion. While some think that using these tools will impair creativity and originality, others may have become too reliant on them for the sake of productivity. In such a fast-moving business where it’s increasingly difficult to keep up with the demands to produce more and faster each time, AI and 3D printing seem unavoidable, but some creators have found ways to use them in an autonomous way, with brilliant results. One of them is jewelry designer Tim Esser from Germany, founder and creative director of 2819.
From a very young age, Tim loved jewels. “I used to play with my grandmother’s jewelry collection, it was shiny and it caught my attention when I was a kid”, he remembers. This interest became more serious later on when his brother Quentin, who has his own clothing brand, created a ring in collaboration with another jeweler, inspiring him to become a creator as well. “I thought that ring was so cool and it lit a spark of passion for jewelry in me. I started creating my own designs and then I founded my brand 2819.” He is entirely self-taught, and after some internships, he is in a constant learning process and searching for new sources of inspiration and techniques.
2819’s pieces strike the contrast between what’s sophisticated and what’s rough in an exquisite balance. This came as a result of an ongoing process for Tim as a silversmith. “It’s natural for me to make things that are more rough and honest compared to mainstream jewelry. It shows that humans are also imperfect. When I started it was very edgy and imperfect, but now I’m getting more interested in the beautiful aspects of jewelry, and I’m trying to combine them with something more tough which is very interesting for me.” This ties into Tim’s personal concept of beauty: “Of course beauty is subjective and everyone has their own taste, but when something is too symmetrical it looks weird because you need to balance it out with asymmetry so it looks really good. There are nuances, sometimes there’s more perfection or more imperfection, but the equilibrium is where each one decides if it’s beautiful for them.”
It’s natural for me to make things that are more rough and honest compared to mainstream jewelry.”
In his creative process, Tim implements a hybrid approach that fuses cutting-edge design processes and casting techniques that date back to very, very old times. “For most of my designs, the first step is using 3D software because I can develop them much faster this way. If I need to change anything I can do it in seconds and that gives me a lot of extra free time. It’s also very useful to offer customers different sizes and designs that will be unique for them.” Afterwards, the process is much more analog. “My casting techniques are the same that were used thousands of years ago. I really love this combination of new and old, because the result is so rough and I feel it’s very connected to nature.”
Along with new design technologies, a challenge that is very unique to jewelry creators is the rising price of metals, especially silver, the main material in 2819’s pieces. Tim states: “Silver is three times more expensive than it was last year. That’s something that we have to solve.” The solution was, again, experimentation: “Right now I’m experimenting with alloy, not only because of the price of silver, but also because I always thought of using other metals and now I’m forced to do it, so in the end it’s a good thing. My mix contains tin, copper and silver, but I’m not going to reveal the proportions of each one because it’s a brand secret”, he teases playfully. “I worked on it for a long time until I found the mix that is perfect for my needs.”
This unique mix of metals gives 2819’s an organic feeling that isn’t easy to find in contemporary jewelry. “When you pour the silver into that oily sand, the sand burns and the smell that comes out of it reminds me of burnt soil, it’s smokey. It reminds me of a volcano. It gives me this feeling of being outside, of something monumental, like how immense nature is.”
Photos: Courtesy of 2819
www.2819jewelry.de
@2819jewelry
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