DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
BS : First of all: sorry for my humble english.
The idea is to preserve strong and positive emotions. If you own a jewel that reminds you of a beloved person but you can't wear it, the heart of preloved gold-concept brings new life in the beloved jewel and preserves the emotion.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
BS : Jewels are emotions. Jewels connect people during life and over generations. There was a long tradition to give a jewel from father to son, from mother to daughter. Today many people don't know, that these jewels can change their design - sometimes a lot, sometimes a little - but won't change their meaning. Nobody wants to wear old fashioned jewels and with the heart of preloved gold concept I want to show no one needs to.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
BS : I set up a homepage and want to show the many different designs, that are possible. Till today there are a lot of heart shaped jewels and I hope the award will bring a lot of publicity, so that there will be a lot more of hearts.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
BS : It took a while to get the concept straight and simple.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
BS : It happened by accident: I offered to work with the gold customers had and so I had to melt a quite simple but meaningful shape. Because the just melting makes sure there won't be any loss of gold. I recognized that a lot of customers were extremely happy tho know that they have the gold that took care for their mom or dad and that this gold would take care for them as well. And I don't like to do things twice, so I started to design different ways to shape a heart just by melting it. This was fun - for me and for my customers.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
BS : I just want to produce it by myself.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
BS : I like it when people wear jewels they connect them with others, what could be a better symbol for a connection than a heart?
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
BS : Everyone - at a special time in his life.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
BS : I'm able to work with any type of gold, silver, platinum and even a mixture of it. The usual makeover of jewels has limits, of course. No goldsmith can take a tiny thin chain and create a solid strong ring or bracelet from it. I just offer to melt it down - let's see the color, let's see the the dimensions. But it'll be kind of a heart.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
BS : The name is the concept: heart of preloved gold means, bring you gold with all the emotions in it and I melt it to a heart. It can be a heartshaped pendant, brooch, earrings or even a key-ring.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
BS : Fire and courage (I need some courage to meld a nice piece of jewellery down...)
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
BS : I can be changed upside down. The concept, once understood by customers, can be applied to a lot of jewels. Sometimes I have to melt a key ring from a lot of gold, sometimes I'm asked to melt a star instead of a heart and sometimes I shall try to melt the star sign.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
BS : No, as a trained goldsmith I have all the skills required.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
BS : Technology has a very low role, all I need is fire.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
BS : It was observing customers reactions over some years.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
BS : To make it simple yet flexible.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
BS : I had good experience before.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
BS : I learned so very much what life can bring to people.
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
BS : The heart of preloved gold concept is a low cost-concept. It's an affordable design-concept.
Check out on http://herz-aus-altgold.de
