In 1938, a young man, skilled in tool and die making and production, fled the Nazis and moved to Boston. American midcentury designers were influenced by those earlier ideals, says Harwood, but also incorporated abstraction, biomorphism (shapes that resemble organic forms) and surrealism.Īdditionally, “young jewelry designers of the 1930s all owe a debt to Alexander Calder and the jewelry he exhibited along with his sculptures,” says Harwood. This movement valued handmade things and humble materials, and believed that good design should be available to a large audience. The Arts and Crafts movement came out of the work of John Ruskin, the preeminent art critic of England in the Victorian period, and William Morris, a British designer and artist. – Photo courtesy of Historical photo of Renoir founder Jerry Fels. “Particularly in their use of lesser materials such as copper and brass, rather then diamonds, gold or rubies.” “I’m not sure that midcentury artists saw themselves as heirs of the Arts and Crafts movement, but they were,” says Barry Harwood, PhD., the curator of decorative arts at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. With his friend and brother-in-law, Curtis “Kurt” Freiler, Jerry ran a company that from 1946 to 1964 produced copper designs that are today beloved by jewelry collectors. Fels should know: In addition to being an accomplished sculptor himself, he is also the son of acclaimed designer Jerry Fels. Unlike iron or steel, copper corrodes slowly, another reason it appeals. “You can work copper hot or cold, you can cast it, you can stretch it until it’s paper thin.
“Copper is a wonderful, warm, forgiving material,” says metalsmith Peter Fels. Historical photo of Renoir founder Jerry Fels.
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