Fine Light is hand-made jewelry from a specially laminated, reflective material. In the way the material captures light, ambient or artificial, and reflects it straight back to the light source, the objects contain an element of surprise and spontaneous beauty that cannot be controlled. The shine can only be seen if light, material and viewer are in line.
For the jewelry collection the reflective material is slit into thin bands that are knotted, tied and slung into delicate, changeable objects and fixed with reduced metal objects and gold and silver plated magnets. The jewelry derives its beauty from an understated elegance of form and sensibility that utilizes the inherent tension of the light- weight material. The collection features traditional necklaces, rings and bracelets as well as more complex and unusual body constructs. Known elements from traditional gold and silver jewelry are avoided and only industrially produced and available materials used.
Without reflectivity the pieces have a delicate, casual appearance and are sometimes almost invisible. When lit, they glow suddenly and radiantly, displaying continuously changing shapes as the reflectivity changes in a play of light, material, body, movement and space.
The pieces contain a fleeting beauty as the material is durable, but will wear over time. Neither jewelry, fashion accessory, space object nor art, yet at the same time all of the above, Fine Light crosses known categories and asks the wearer and user to reinvent conventions of beauty and function.
The reflective material is composed of minute glass beads adhered to polyester film for added strength. It is very durable yet, like delicate fabric, has to be handled with care as the material can crease. For care it can be ironed at low temperature. Washing in cold water is possible.
Fine Light is created by Karolin Schmidbaur, an Architect who has been practicing internationally for over 25 years. Next to her architectural career Karolin became fascinated with the reflective material in 2012 and has since explored its aesthetic potential in various applications in the connection with body and space. The Fine Light collection was launched in 2014. Not jewelry design in the classic sense the work focuses on exploring material, light, form and space.