Winner of the prestigious Herbert Hofmann Prize and Bavarian State Prize, Munich jeweler Doris Betz creates organic jewelry that appears spontaneous – linear drawings in metal that grow like the plant forms which often inspire them. Whether colorfully lacquered or blackened, the silver structures are sturdy but diaphanous, with the negative space created within the intervals adding another dimension. A former student of master metalsmiths Hermann Jünger and Otto Künzli at the prestigious Academie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, Betz’s jewelry is in the permanent collections of die Neue Sammlung, there, as well as Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Blueflow II, brooch, 2019, Hostaglas, lacquered, silver

Blueflow V, brooch, 2019, Hostaglas, lacquered, silver

Bavarian Clouds, brooches, silver, lacquer

Necklaces, 2017, silver, patina. Photo: Erol Gurian

Earrings, Left: red hostaglas, gold; Right: black hostaglas, gold

Rings, necklace, 2015, silver