Golden Ring of Honor 2008 for Tone Vigeland from Oslo, Norway

Jewelry designer and sculptor Tone Vigeland has been awarded the Golden Ring of Honor by the Gesellschaft for Goldschmiedekunst e.V. The ring is a mark of thanks and public recognition of her creative contribution.
Since 1933 the Ring of Honor has been awarded to 38 internationally reputed and highly-esteemed gold and silversmiths from inside and outside Germany. Those recognized include Max Fröhlich (CH), Hermann Jünger (D), Friedrich Becker (D), Bruno Martinazzi (I), Giampaolo Babetto (I), Anton Cepka (Slovakia), Yasuki Hiramatsu (JAP), Michael Rowe (GB) and Peter Skubic (A).
Every three years the circle of those awarded the Ring of Honor selects a new wearer with the last artist to be honored creating the ring for his or her successor.

Peter Skubic from Gamischdorf, who received the Ring of Honor in 2005 created a ring for Tone Vigeland that in design and use of material is wholly attuned to his material preference and style.

Tone Vigeland studied1956 at the Statens-Høndverks-og-Kunstindustriskole (National Norwegian College of Arts, Crafts and Design). One year later she opted instead for a goldsmith course at the Oslo Yrkesskole (Oslo Vocational College). Already in her first year Vigeland presented her first jewelry collection at the annual student exhibition. Her jewelry immediately attracted attention: For instance, earrings comprising clear, simple lines embodied the trend in Scandinavian jewelry design.
As of 1961, the artist created a series of necklaces and earrings reminiscent of traditional Norwegian costumes or classic American Indian jewelry. Another favorite motif of this period is the spiral, golden wire was worked into tight spirals worn on the fingers or wrist.

In her first solo show, held in 1967 in the Kunsternes Hus in Oslo, innovative rings, bangles and earrings were on display. For the first time she deviated from her trademark use of the formed line. Instead, she combined numerous tiny rings with one another to create a ductile metal structure threaded with pearls and amethysts. Her jewelry followed the contours of the body, a topic that would become increasingly more important in Vigeland’s work.
In 1976, Vigeland began to experiment with a metal mesh producing objects that called to mind knitted metal or chain mail. These two simple discoveries – meshwork and the element of repetition became key factors in the development of Tone Vigeland’s jewelry. She produced broad bangles consisting of flexible strips of mesh and rows of silver pearls threaded on chains. With these new, very dominant pieces Tone Vigeland proved that she could create jewelry in tune with the zeitgeist of the1980s by emphasizing the combination of jewelry and body in motion.
In 1980, friends gave Tone Vigeland a large old hand-forged nail as a present. She transformed it into a necklace. For the next few years nails became a leitmotif of her work. The most remarkable objects are the fine, delicate, feathery shapes she forged from small, blue-black hammered steel nails.
In 1985, Tone Vigeland re-defined the relationship between the base and structure of her pieces: She began to place the various parts so close together that the base could no longer be seen at all, the result was a merging of sorts of base and surface. In 1989 Tone Vigeland presented jewelry in which she omitted the base altogether. The objects consisted of many small squares joined together by tiny rings. They recalled old slate tiles on an arched roof or armadillos. The flexibility of these pieces allows scope for experimentation with light and shadows.

The works consist of a single element repeated any number of times: The countless little sticks, pins, strips, pearls or metal discs form the actual surface of the pieces and make for the extraordinary character of the works.
The repetition of individual elements is a fundamental characteristic of Tone Vigeland’s art. Her method of combining many identical parts to create a coherent whole has an important impact on the surface and structure of her works – it produces movement, color and nuances of light and shadow and is an expression of the relationship between the whole and its parts.

In 1995, Tone Vigeland created her first sculpture, it had the shape of a stubbly copper structure. She took the method and materials from her jewelry design and transposed them in a much larger dimension: the result: several thousand elements were tightly crammed together. As a result the object assumes its final form without the help of the human body – rather it resembles a vessel, a muff or an enormous sea urchin.

Since this time Tone Vigeland has devoted herself solely to large sculptures, which are presented in numerous exhibitions around the world.

Further information:
Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst e.V.
c.weber-stoeber(at)gfg-hanau.de phone +49 (0)6181-256556 fax +49 (0)6181-256554