Yes, I know. Things take time in my world. It is more then a week ago that I came back but I have been to the IJL together with co-worker Remy Bugge.

The IJL was this year from 4 till 7 September at Earls Court exhibition centre. We decided to have a look and go back and forth within 48 hours.

I must say that the fair presently surprised me. I only have been to the Copenhagen jewellery fair last year so no expert at all but this one had more variety and seemed less messy then Copenhagen.
The fair had a reasonable big part reserved for small independent designers. Good to see that they are not completely run over by the big brands and that the promoter of the fair makes it affordable to have a small stand. After all it is the independent designer who creates the trends, it’s just the big brands jumping on top of the trends and make it theirs.

Special area’s where reserved for “Kickstart” and “Bright young gems”. Both focused on the upcoming new designer and the commercial launch of their brand. A lot of interesting pieces here and very inspiring to see all the different styles. As I like big and bold pieces myself my favourite was without a doubt Imogen Belfield. Check out her website. ;)

Of course there were a lot of stones on the fair as well. From the smallest topaz to big multiple carat diamonds. Water was running out of my mouth to be honest and I could easily spend a small fortune! I bought some rubies and a beautiful fire opal as well on the fair, looking forward to get started with those. The quality and price was very good so I think I found myself some new suppliers as well.  I keep you updated on were they will end up in my collection. ;)

Warm regards,

Werner Hilberink

Ok, I have to be honest and confess. In the past I always had a big mouth and said; I wouldn’t make any skull jewellery. Everybody else is making it already so I don’t see the point.

Well, the day has come that I too have a piece of skull jewellery in my collection. I suddenly totally see the point! It’s simple, people just love skulls. It's hard to explain but there is something sinister and mysterious about it. It’s obviously a very strong symbol which people feel connected to one way or the other.

Of course I did give my skulls this little Hilberink Jewellery twist by giving them headsets. They fit right into the DJ collection that I have!

They are available as regular skulls or with gem stone eyes. These two cuties have rubies and topaz as eyes but I also have them with sapphire in different colours, amongst others yellow and dark blue, and black diamonds.They will be up on the Internet shop the coming week. I am travelling to London tomorrow for the London jewellery Fair so will be working on the site again when I am back in Oslo.

Werner Hilberink

A few days ago I delivered a new custom piece to a customer. It is a gift from one friend to another and I admit that I like this kind of jobs. Financially doing one off pieces is never that interesting. You spent days on it and if you should charge the hours nobody could really afford it. But what I like about it is two things:

It challenges me! You have to think really well about your design and how you will build it up. Unlike with collection pieces were I could make 3 or 4 proto types before I have the “final version”.

And second of all, it becomes quit often one of the favourite pieces in the jewellery collection of the owner. Which is for a big part jewelry bought by themselves because its beautiful but doesn’t have necessary the emotional value. Especially if it’s bought as surprise by a close friend or family member.

The piece I delivered now is a necklace made with different types of chain. The pendant is a circle with a heart in it that can spin around. On the outside I stamped “this too shall pass”. Remembering the wearer of the good times still to come.

I also did a Colorit job on a golden ring made by my studio colleagues from Jewellers of Norway. I’m getting the hang of this Colorit! Its really nice to work with and the end result is amazing. I’m looking forward to use it more. ;)

If you want a custom piece for yourself or a close friend or family member, remember that it can easily take me 2 to 4 weeks depending on what you want and how busy I am with other orders. So, contact me in time and lets see what we can create!

Werner Hilberink

This coming Friday “Steingaven” at Bærums verk will re-open and be renamed to Smykkeverket. I have been there today and the paint was still wet. But everything starts to look good for the opening, which is officially from 12.00 till 17.00.   Birgith Hestangen and Trine Lise Lund run the shop. Birgith has been my teacher during the advanced silversmith course from the “folkuniversitetet” so I take it as a big compliment that she asked me, as one of 5 designers, to have my pieces in her store. Funny enough, Linda (one of the other designers) was my teacher during the beginner’s course silversmith. So I am in good company I would say. ;) Since many people are working Friday on daytime I can imagine that it is not possible to come by but you should drop by if you can. I will be there as well to say hi and have a good time with the visitors and the other designers. If Friday is simply not possible then keep Smykkeverket in mind the coming months. It’s x-mass season before you know it and if you want something custom made by me or any of the other designers it will take time!!

Werner Hilberink

The holidays are over!

So it’s back to work both in the studio as well as with my site and blog. I blame the holidays but I know I should have been a bit more active with the blog part. I’m sorry! But it will change in the nearby future. ;)

There is enough going on with Hilberink jewelry in the coming months so enough to write about. I will be visiting the London Jewelry Fair, have a new sales point coming up at Bærums Verk, working on my new star collection and have some custom pendants and cufflinks to work on.

In the last week, straight after my holiday in France, I have been working hard on a pendant for Tiesto and Robbie Rivera. Both were playing in Oslo on Friday the 12th so I could hand them over in person instead of sending them.

The Tiesto logo pendant is 2.5 cm wide and represents the songbird. It is in sterling silver with a black rhodium coating. After the coating I sanded the top to get a matt finish. Unfortunately the management didn’t allow me to make pictures but they promised me to send some made by their own photographer. I have to see that happen first however. ;)

The good news is that Robbie Rivera, now proud owner of the headset pendant, wants me to make a logo pendant for him as well. If the result is satisfying him he will consider having it as merchandise on his website for his fans to buy!

So, enough going on, have to get back to my bench.

Warm regards,

Werner Hilberink

Here is a little update regarding Hilberink jewelry at the Extrema festival.

As most of you already have seen, I made a special “Extrema” pendant. Extrema uses the seahorse in their logo so I made a seahorse wearing a little headphone.

To keep it all affordable, a day at the festival is expensive enough, I made a small version on a leather string that goes for only Nok 300. I only made 100 of these with different finishes and different colours of string. So if you want to have the most choice: COME EARLY!
But you should come by the stand early anyway because 100 pieces on a 10.000+ crowed is a sign that these babies are not going to last long!!

I also have the turntable pendant arm, that I normally sell on a silver chain, just for this day with a leather string as well. I only bring 40 pieces of these and with different finish, so also here the early bird has the best choice.
Beside the small seahorse (25 mm) I made a small serie of 10 big onces. Those are 5 cm and come with a silver chain. 10 pieces on that crowd is of course a joke and only available for the morning peeps. ;)

I also bring my regular collection, known for the headsets, turntable arm pendants, cupcakes, lucky 7’s, brass knuckles, tattoo machines and so on. 

We will also be running a little competition were we give away a pendant!

Our stand is located after the entrance on the right hand side. Opposite of the Kollektiv Cirkuz stage so no reason not to hang out. We have 2 huge beach flags with our name on it, can’t miss it!

See you all at Extrema 2011!!!

Werner Hilberink

After thinking a bit back and forth and talking to Lena at Extrema Norway I have decided to have a stand on this years Extrema outdoor festival! More and more famous DJs are wearing my jewelry and many of my pieces are so music related that I couldn’t say no to it.
I don’t have all the information yet of were my stand will be but I have two 5 meter high beach flags so it should be easy to find.

At Hilberink jewelry we know that a day at any festival will cost you and you spent always more money then you should. But no worries! I am working on some special pieces for Extrema that will be on sale only this day!

Beside that I am working on a little competition were you can win a beautiful piece of jewelry so just dropping by the stand will always pay off.

In the coming days I will come out with more information regarding the specials we are working on.

See you at EXTREMA!!

The last two days I have attended a course from Colorit. Colorit is a process for colouring jewellery and can be used on different precious metals as gold and silver amongst others. I had the equipment already and had done some pieces but the result never really satisfied me. After the two days I must honestly say I learned a lot! Not only the standard stuff but also some smart tips and tricks both from the instructor as well from the other students. Some of them have used the product as long as 15 years. Colorant has a wide variety of standard colours, pearl effects as well as eye fix. All colours can be mixed so the possibilities are enormous.

The picture is made with my mobile during the course so not the best quality. On the right hand my own ring with oxidation. On the left side a logo ring with Colorit. I took a opac blue as basic and took a eye fx on top of that. The eye fx is clear with glitters floating in it.

If you are thinking about a custom piece of jewellery and you would like to use colours, for a logo or club colours as example, then please contact me and we see what we can make. With Colorit it is also possible to repair emaille on your jewellery.

I wish you all a colourful summer!  ;)
Werner

Last week I did a course from Smykkekurs.no. I did stone setting, which I really wanted to learn. We only got to learn two different settings but the course only last for 20 hours. So it is limited how many settings you can learn. So from now on you can expect more stones in my pieces. Specially black diamonds work really well with silver but I bought some nice colour gems as well lately. ;)

It was kind of funny since the course was held by two of my daily co-workers and given in the studio that I normally work in. I got to use my own bench and tools so couldn’t complain! If you are thinking of making jewellery or are making jewellery and want to learn a special skill then check out their site. The courses are very popular and tend to book full early. You learn a lot, the courses are intense, but of course you still have to practise on your own as well. I really can recommend them!