Schmiede des Manufakturelle Schmuckgestaltung e. V.

HELLENA HUECK

HOLDING WITHIN

Stipendiatin 2025

Jewellery artist Hellena Hueck crafts wearables inspired by personal anecdotes, humour, and obserservations of nature and other vibrating matter. Hueck is a trained goldsmith, and holds a Master in Jewellery and Metalwork from the Royal College of Art in London, where she lived between 2018 and 2023. The studio is currently based in Berlin.

For Pforzheim Revisited, I applied with the project Holding Within: wearable, abstracted fantasy jewellery caskets inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction - filled with secret notes, insects in the spirit of Maria Sibylla Merian and a chubby dose of humour.

Throughout research and making I aimed to create a free-spirited jewellery ensemble that explores alternative ways of collecting things and meaning. The notion of “holding” is also expressed through the making process itself: I created a custom forming die in the shape of a blossom (literally a pouch designed by nature) the pressed pocket-like forms suggest a sense of containment, gathering, and protection.

Insects, such as the caterpillar, I used as fictional devices to open a safe space for personal anecdotes and memories connected to my family.

Research

Part of the research for this body of work was Ursula K. Le Guin’s essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, which proposes that humanity’s first invention was not a weapon but a container; a carrier bag used to gather grains, hold - and transport experiences and anecdotes.

Maria Sibylla Merian’s avant-garde illustrations of metamorphosis in nature and the symbiosis of plants and insects.

Ornamental Caskets: Exploring their ornamentation and symbolism.

Obsessed - The Bow; an ultimate decorative element

Forming a bow using a historic Pforzheim die with a drop hammer & experimenting with perforation, layering and gold gilding.

Wax Carving

Since the tulip blossom is a great container designed by nature, I carved its form from wax, in two halves.

Bronze Delft-Casting

Afterwards, I alloyed the bronze and sand-cast the two tulip halves in metal. Through this process, I created a ‘Pfaff’ for pressing and forming.

Manufacturing a custom die in shape of the tulip blossom

Experiment 1: Creating a forming die using a steel sleeve and special resin

Experiment 2: Creating a forming die with POM polymer

Conclusion: The outcome using the POM die is extremely detailed and has a very smooth surface. The resin version, on the other hand - somehow - distorts and alienates the shape, which I really like.

Enamelling buttons

Guilloché and Pantograf (engraving machine)

I absolutely loved working with the pantograf!

Translating hand-drawings into metal and Plexiglas.

And engraving on guilloché.

Archive: the workshop as an archive itself

For example the collection of historical stamping dies at the Museum of Technology.

Personal anecdotes

On Collecting: Grandma’s private collection of miniature perfume bottles - which has always been a big inspiration for me. Some of the pieces, which I created during the scholarship, reference features and architecture of wall-mounted miniature vitrines.

On Insects: Unexpected encounter with the Garden Tiger Moth - by rinsing a salad I encountered this beautiful creature, quietly hidden amongst the leaves.

3D Scanning

Inspired by the Garden Tiger Moth, I sculpted a butterfly and then 3D-scanned it, along with a found goblin, with the support of the museum’s Tech Lab team.

Materiality

Repurposed materials: my grandfather’s watch gears, crayons by my friend Maika and pre-owned gemstones from the museum.

Keepsake Brooch

This brooch is central to my exploration of “keepsaking”. It preserves my first, imperfect guilloché, a lock of hair /or/ dried flower, hand-drawing and gemstones. It also references the tradition of mourning jewellery, where personal memories were preserved in wearable objects.

Experiments

Bow made from perforated zinc sheet: Through milling and annealing, the surface developed a shimmering effect.

Archived Caterpillar: Engraving in plexiglas - the mounted sheets preserve the dust created during the engraving process. It also holds the gemstones in place.