A jewellery exhibition, The Devil is in the Detail, by the Kilkenny-based goldsmith, Rudolf Heltzel, remains based at the Hunt Museum until Wednesday December 23.
Heltzel’s distinctive signature is use of large, unusual and stunning stones, set in precious metals, predominantly 18 carat gold. In most of his recent work a single stone, a piece of great beauty in itself, leads the design of the piece. The accent of this Limerick show is on accessibility and sales, with a private fitting room laid on for those interested in buying a piece.
According to the show’s curator, Virginia Teehan, former director of the Hunt Museum, “Rudolf Heltzel makes the most stunningly crafted jewellery to appeal to a confident, self-assured and sophisticated audience”.
Heltzel sources stones (labradorite, citrine, uvarovite, carnelian) from German stonecutters, artists in their own right, who will already have worked the surface of the stone. The Kilkenny based designer served on the Board of the Crafts Council of Ireland for fourteen years and was instrumental in initiating the Jewellery Skills course (now the Jewellery and Goldsmithing Skills and Design Course), established by the Crafts Council in 1992 in response to what he perceived as a need for focused skills training for Irish jewellers.
