Susanne Elstner

Charcoal, which she personally chars and processes from larch wood, has become a distinguishing feature of Susanne Elstner’s sculptural jewelry. She has always highlighted the beauty and structure of the annual growth rings, but now she also pays attention to the fine details of the growth processes: the softer early wood of spring and summer with its broad rings and the harder late wood of autumn, which ends in a fine line and marks the tree’s growth pause during the winter. Susanne Elstner likes to create her works in groups, combining her signature charcoal (which leaves no black stains after processing) with natural amber or unostentatious gold stripes, thus creating filigree openwork or letting miniature vessels turned from charcoal seem to float atop silver settings. The artist shows her humorous side with the “Crumble Kumpel” rings, which were inspired by crushed cans with open lids like gaping mouths.