Bengel Art Deco Jewellery: A Monument to Jewellery and Industry in Idar–Oberstein

ARNOLDSCHE published “Art Déco Jewelry, Jakob Bengel, Idar-Oberstein” (2nd ed.) in 2002. Until then entirely unknown, the costume-jewellery maker Jakob Bengel was thus introduced to the annals of jewellery history. The discovery of this Art Déco collection, that is unique in 1930s European jewellery, focused public attention on the business (est. 1873). Comprising a factory, with a villa for the proprietor and housing for the workforce, it had been preserved in its building, replete with machinery and tools as a relic of 1870s boom era costume jewellery. Turned into a cultural monument through the establishment of a foundation in 2001, today it makes 130 years of costume jewellery history come alive and is being successfully transformed into a centre for contemporary art jewellery. Rotating exhibitions, artists-in-residence and studios for young artists in jewellery link tradition and future at a unique place.

This publication showcases 100 hitherto unknown pieces of jewellery from the historic Art Déco collection owned by the Jakob Bengel company. The authors, however, approach both the past and the future of this unique industrial monument and the Art Déco jewellery made there.