The Grassimesse takes place annually at the GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig. Craftspeople, artists and designers from the categories "jewellery", "furniture and home accessories", "ceramics", "wood and toys", "glass", "metal and utensils", "fashion, accessories and textiles" and "paper and book art" exhibit their unique pieces, small series and exemplary industrial products there. Various universities also present the products of their students there. (Former) students from the Idar-Oberstein campus are also regular exhibitors at the Grassimesse. This year, three graduates of the "Gemstone and Jewellery" degree course were represented in Leipzig: Sharareh Aghaei, Julia Obermaier and Helena Renner.
Various prizes are also awarded during the fair, two of which were presented to graduates of the Idar-Oberstein campus this year. Sharareh Aghaei was awarded the Grassi Prize of the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation for her sustainable jewellery collection "Second Chance". The prize is endowed with 3000€.
Sharareh writes about her collection:
"Precious Stones are limited substances from the nature resources, which has been extensively extracted by the modern manufacturing. Among all these stones getting exploited, the high fashion and jewelry industry is the biggest consumer of these precious stones, of course selected among the ultimate quality.
It means the stones with natural characteristics such as inclusions, mini lines or cracks which are not even visible with unaided eyes, will be categorized unqualified or literally as gangue, therefore a large amount of rough rocks would end up in leftover piles and sadly considered as trash.
Most of the stones used in the pieces I have created in this collection, are done by these not more usable material, collected from different carving companies, stone workshops, or artists’ remains, to upcycle and give them another chance to show off their forgotten beauty."
Helena Renner was awarded the €2000 Grassi Prize by Sparkasse Leipzig for her body-related (jewellery) objects.
Helena writes about her work:
"Based on personal experience, my work explores the external and internal perception of physical appearance in the field of tension between reality, individual desire and social norms. In a time-consuming process, I modify shapewear and underwear by hand to give them multi-layered meanings. My works are visual commentaries on the complexity of beauty norms, taking up aspects such as weight loss, cosmetic surgery and hunger in order to make them visible. My works invite you to question the pursuit of an ever-changing, unattainable ideal and to embark on your own journey of self-acceptance."
Other exhibitors were also honoured at the Grassimesse: Designer Nadja Schulze won the smow design prize, carpenter and interior designer Konrad Koppold the Jan Willems prize, Bertold Hoffman the Grassifreunde prize, Philsoo Heo the Apolline prize and Paula Holzhauser the culturtraeger young talent prize. Textile artist Fern Liberty Kallenbach Campbell was selected for this year's special purchase "The Best for the Collection".
Here you can find more information about the Grassimesse.
Click here to go to Sharareh Aghaei's website.
Click here to go to Helena Renner's website.
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