Philippe WOLFERS
(1858-1929)
Belgian jeweler, sculptor and glassware designer
Wolfers trained in the workshop of his father, an affirmed goldsmith, in Brussels, Belgium. His first designs for silver works and jewelry were influenced by Japanese craftwork and naturalism.
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In 1897 he concentrated mainly on jewelry and started to work with ivory, a fine material never used before him and which came from Congo, the Belgian Colony in Africa.
The success was immediate, as he opened branches of his jewelry business in Antwerp, Liège, Ghent, Düsseldorf, London and Paris.
In 1909, he commissioned Belgian Art Nouveau architect, Victor Horta, to build his headquarters in Brussels. He was also one of the finest glassware designers for the Belgian glass manufacturer Val Saint-Lambert.
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In 1908, he produced sculptures, ceramics, furniture and metalwork; his style became more geometrical and abstract and it reached its climax at the 1925 Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Paris.
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The outstanding works of Philippe Wolfers were of great importance for the entire Art Nouveau jewelry.
Inspired by the Symbolism Movement and its dream like themes, he used gold, precious stones and expensive materials, to create luxurious jewelry, with floral, animal and natural designs, sensual female forms, with fluid, sinuous symbolic ornaments.
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Major works:
Jewelry, pendants, brooches, belt buckles, hair ornaments, in chased silver or gold and ivory, with pearls, rubies, diamonds, opal or enamel (from 1897);
Glassware in crystal glass (c.1907).
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