Friedrich Becker Prize Winner 2026: Veronika Fabian

On May 9, 2026, the Society for Goldsmithing e.V. awarded the Friedrich Becker Prize, worth 10,000 euros, to Veronika Fabian. “This year’s presentation of the Friedrich Becker Prize not only celebrates the prize’s tenth anniversary but also honors the vitality and sustainability of jewelry, utensils, and objects,” according to a statement from Hanau.

Veronika Fabian, Necklace Spring Ring XXXL / Clasp Me Firmly, Hold Me Tight, 2023. Brass, steel. Soldered, flattened, pressed chains. 25.5 x 55 x 4 cm. Photo Veronika Fabian.

Veronika Fabian (born in 1979 in Kecskemét, Hungary) studied jewelry design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, and completed the “MASieraad Challenging Jewellery” master’s program at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Prior to that, she worked for several years in business and finance. This period significantly shaped her perspective on jewelry. For Veronika Fabian reflects on consumer culture and the meanings of everyday objects in people’s personal lives. Twenty-first-century capitalism, the emergence and decay of value attributions are recurring themes in her work. Characteristic of her work are experiments with industrially manufactured chains, which she transforms through forging, rolling, and soldering. Enlarged lobster clasps, eyelets, or spring rings become central elements of necklaces. Veronika Fabian also reinterprets everyday objects associated with status and identity. She saws apart wine bottles, perfume bottles, and nail polish bottles and reassembles them into new forms as chains, whose origins remain only faintly discernible.

The jury explained its decision in favor of the work “Spring ring XXXL / Clasp me firmly, hold me tight” by Veronika Fabian as follows: “The selected work unfolds references to jewelry on multiple levels. The starting point is the spring ring, originally a functional clasp, which is enlarged here into a choker and thus becomes the central element of the work. Industrially manufactured chains form the raw material. In a transformative process, they are condensed into a fine-walled structure, soldered, and pressed. The linearity of the individual chains thus gives rise to a new, compact form. This interlinking of forms and attributions continues the semantic level as well: a clasp becomes jewelry, a series becomes a unique piece, function becomes a symbol. Through this material and symbolic transformation, the work raises questions about the norms and conventions of jewelry. It also addresses self-determination, value, and meaning within its functional codes.”

Friedrich Becker, Kinetic bracelet Hommage á Chirico, 1988. Yellow gold, brilliant-cut diamonds, diamonds. Photo by Michael Berger.

From May 9 to October 18, 2026, the exhibition for the 2026 Friedrich Becker Prize will be on view at the Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau. Parallel to the exhibition featuring the award-winning work, an expanded overview of the prize winner’s oeuvre will be on display in the foyer showcase through August 31, 2026.

A total of 150 entries from Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia were submitted to the competition. The jury, consisting of Paul Derrez, Prof. Melanie Isverding, and Dr. Christianne Weber-Stöber, selected 48 works by 49 artists for the shortlist, which will be presented in the exhibition. The works impress with their technical precision and sophistication as well as their creative expressiveness.

Sigurd Bronger, Necklace Turbine Necklace No. 5, 2025. Chrome-plated brass, steel, aluminum, lacquer, rubber cord, 9.2 x 9.2 x 4.7 cm. Photo: Sigurd Bronger.

Sam Tho Duong, necklace TATTOO#9, 2025. Bubble wrap, stone beads, nylon, 2 x 16 x 262 cm. Photo by Uwe Dettmar.

Since 1999, the Society for Goldsmithing has promoted international networking within the contemporary jewelry and design scene every three years through the awarding of the Friedrich Becker Prize. The prize was established by Hildegard Becker (1928–2018) in memory of her husband (1922–1997), the pioneering goldsmith and designer of kinetic objects. The eight previous laureates were: Rudolf Bott (1999), Anette Walz (2002), Peter Bauhuis (2005), Robert Baines (2008), Alexander Vohswinkel (2011), Sam Tho Duong (2014), Michael Becker (2017), Junwon Jung (2020), and Norman Weber (2023).

This year’s competition exhibition at the Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau features works by: Sharareh Aghaei (DE), Miriam Arentz (DE), Nicole Beck (DE), Michael Berger (DE), Alice Biolo (GB), Heather Blake (GB), Alexander Blank (DE), Iris Bodemer (DE), Catalina Brenes (IT), Helen Britton (DE), Sigurd Bronger (NO), Sungho Cho (KR), Soo Hyun Chou (KR), Sarah Cossham (DE), Andreas Decker (DE), Arianaz Dehghan (DE), Dong Ding (GB), Sam Tho Duong (DE), Veronika Fabian (HU), Benedikt Fischer and Rudy De Gruyl (NL), Yael Friedman (IL), Corrina Goutos (DE), Benedict Haener (CH), Juan Harnie (BE), Mirjam Hiller (DE), Koichi Io (JP), Mari Ishikawa (DE), Svenja John (DE), Empar Juanes (ES), Nikita Kavryzhkin (DE), Mira Kim (CA), Maria Konschake (BE), Andrew Lamb (GB), Xin Liu (CN), Christine Matthias (DE), Gina Nadine Müller (DE), Tim Neumann (DE), Sonia Pibernat (ES), Sarah Pulvertaft (GB), Jenny Scheidegger (CH), Karin Seufert (DE), Martina Tornow (DE), Tim Udvardi-Lakos (DE), Lingjie Wang (CN), Nana Watanabe (JP), Guja Youssefi (DE), and Yuzhe Zhang (CN).