Hemmerle Jewellery

The internationally renowned Hemmerle jewellery atelier has been based in a townhouse in the fashionable shopping street of Maximillianstrasse in Munich since 1905. Brothers Anton and Jospeh Hemmerle established the firm in 1893 when they purchased the premises and workshop of the established Munich goldsmith and jeweller Echlinger, who had specialised in medals and insignia making since 1796. 

Having taken over such an established business, the Hemmerle brothers obtained the Royal Warrant of Appointment as Purveyor to the Court of the Prince Regent of Bavaria to produce medals and jewels for the Royal household. Their connections to the Bavarian Royal Family under the Prince Regent Luitpold and his son King Ludwig III established Hemmerle’s connections amongst all the noble families of Bavaria and Germany as a whole. The firm’s International acclaim was further enhanced when they won a prize for a Bishop’s Cross they had created and exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, and their jewellery had become famous for its exquisite craftsmanship.

By the 1950s Joseph and Anton’s sons, Joseph and Carl Hemmerle, assumed control of the business. Carl’s son, Stefan, had been sent away to train as a goldsmith and gain experience from other leading jewellers in France, Italy and Denmark. Stefan’s joining the business in the 1970s with his brother Franz, brought in a third generation of the Hemmerle family into the business. Stefan and Franz introduced a new vision to the jewels the firm created, with collections based on natural inspirations from insects, animals and flowers. 

Hemmerle’s unique approach to jewellery design was further cemented once Stefan and his wife Sylveli took over full control of the business in 1995. This third generation husband and wife team moved away from traditional jewellery design, and embraced a uniquely distinct approach to their jewellery creations. Using unconventional materials such as oxidised iron, copper, wood and steel in conjunction with highly prized and strongly coloured gemstones such as aquamarine and tourmaline (see Lot 204 in this sale), Hemmerle now make highly distinctive hand made jewels. They have also reprised traditional jewellery techniques, such as the Austrian method of knitting beads around silk spheres, to set new heights in jewellery design (see Lot 210 in this sale). 

Hemmerle entered its fourth generation of the family involvement in the business when Stefan’s son Christian and his wife Yasmin joined the firm in 2006. Hemmerle jewels are frequently exhibited at the world’s leading Art Fairs, and there are permanent exhibits of Hemmerle’s jewels at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, and The Victoria & Albert Museum in London. 

AUCTION DETAILS
Wednesday 7 July | 10.30am
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

This is a live online auction with an auctioneer.

VIEWING:
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