Gold Brooch

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In 'Gold Brooch' Baines uses his extensive research to construct new forms of gold and silver jewellery to reinterpret the traditions of the goldsmith's art. Baines' highly intricate items of jewellery and small objects draw their effect from baroque sumptuousness, which he achieves through his adroit reinterpretation of traditional techniques in combination with structural composition. The statement from the Friedrich Becker jury noted; 'The idea of treating jewellery as an architectonic landmark, giving it a visual rhetoric by means of a deconstructive form shows that jewellery can have an independent, self-confident role in the 21st century as well. It was for me the most convincing entry in the competition'. 'Gold Brooch' won the prestigious Friedrich Becker Prize 2008 which includes a 5,000 Euro prize made available by the private foundation of Hildegard Becker, Düsseldorf, and determined by peer review through the Association of Goldsmith's Art. Gold and silversmiths and jewellery and metal designers were invited to submit their work in precious metals supplemented by precious stones, pearls, synthetic stones and glass and 131 artists from 18 nations did. The jury, Prof Dr Florian Hufnagl, (Director, Neue Sammlung Collection, Staatliches Museum für Angewandte Kunst Design in Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich), Klaus Jürgen Maack, (ERCO Leuchten, Lüdenscheid) and Susanne Veltins, Brauerei C. & A. Veltins) said independent design executed in the highest quality was an important criterion.