&: Hilbert & Künzli

Swiss jewelrs Therese Hilbert and Otto Künzli have been creating jewelry for over forty years, producing works of minimalist clarity and impressively precise craftsmanship, full of wit and sensual force – jewelry that adorns while simultaneously gaining independent aesthetic status. The two artists have lived and worked in Munich since the mid-1970s, sharing their private life and studio and conducting an intensive creative exchange. Despite this ongoing dialogue, they each pursue their own individual artistic paths. They have never developed joint projects and they generally exhibit their work in separate shows, often internationally.

The Gewerbemuseum Winterthur is now exhibiting the work of both jewelry designers jointly in Switzerland for the first time, in a continuation of the &: series which was launched in 2009 in order to examine the creative dialogue between partners in the areas of design and applied arts. &: Hilbert & Künzli is a kind of retrospective (or indeed interim assessment) which presents numerous pieces of jewelry, famous and unknown. At the same time, personal collectables, found objects and other sources of inspiration illustrate the lives of Therese Hilbert and Otto Künzli in the context of family, work, friends and exhibitions. The show thus gives a comprehensive insight not only into their work but also into the very particular way they view the world.