For a long time, Damascus steel was by no means considered a common material for jewelry. Especially not for wedding rings. A portrait of a goldsmith who nevertheless did not let himself be deterred from experimenting with the exciting material and thus found his very own expression.
“When I was a little boy, there was a jewelry gallery in my town,” says goldsmith Joachim Bartz. Something begins to shine in his eyes when he talks about jewelry. As a listener, one can succumb to the impression that Bartz has found in his profession the tool to express himself.
He regards jewelry as actually superfluous. For Joachim Bartz, at least rationally, jewelry has no purpose, indeed no real task, except simply to be beautiful. He is concerned with the expression of the beautiful, the aesthetic. Back then, as a child, his nose was often stuck to the window of the local jewelry gallery, where a wide variety of artists presented their unique pieces. His enthusiasm was above all for the ability to forge such beautiful jewelry from old metal.
In 1993, this fascination led him to begin training as a goldsmith in the Vogtland region. Even then, there were already blacksmiths trying their hand at damask. But they were clunky, Bartz recalls today. In any case, they contradicted his idea of aesthetics.
But he is enthusiastic about this material. When he consciously perceived the damask for the first time, there was a real “wow moment” for him, he says enthusiastically. “The forging work into these small blocks really amazed me at the time”. Even the tinder from the fire was still visible, he recalls. He was particularly taken with the typical grain of the damask.
“These tangible differences in height and this naturally given structure, which nevertheless seems so constructed and planned, makes me hold the damask in my hand with a very special feeling to this day.”
Previously, he had experimented a lot with silver, casting and gold. For a while, he cast natural forms, such as leaves, to also give expression to the natural in his craftsmanship.
But damask never let go of him. Especially because of the myths that have surrounded Damascus steel for centuries, the goldsmith is now really on fire. He wants jewelry with this material. Jewelry that meets his idea of aesthetics.
His first attempts are also strong and massive rings. He takes them to the jewelry fair in Dresden. Has a small stand there and is amazed. In a time in which mainly tantalum and carbon are in vogue in the jewelry world, he is able to take some orders back to his workshop.
Under time pressure, he then sets off in search of high-quality damask. Because quality and perfection have been Bartz’s top priorities since his training. Because even if he actually considers jewelry to be useless, he carries a philosophy deep within himself.
He understands the ring as a perfect symbol. Without beginning and without end. It symbolizes infinity and that is exactly where Joachim Bartz starts. Because his rings should connect people for a lifetime and they should tell stories. The stories of couples.
That is also the reason why he does not want to make any compromises in the quality of his materials and in the processing of these from the very beginning. He has rings in mind that are forged especially for the couple and according to their ideas. There should be no mass production. Instead, perfection in craftsmanship and communication at eye level. Even then, he saw himself as a partner to the couple.
After only a few days, Joachim Bartz knows just about every damask manufacturer in Germany, and even though he describes the time back then as “sometimes very frustrating,” he never felt the desire to quit.
“Damascus is a capricious element,” he says. It always behaves differently and sometimes seems unpredictable. But Bartz keeps going. Experiments with the damask and embarks on a journey of development. Personally and in terms of craftsmanship.
From the beginning, his workshop, founded in 2000, is associated with the Damascus steel. At that time, the men’s rings had been rather more bulky desired. But for the women’s rings, the desire for more filigree is quickly expressed. It is customer requests from that time that lead Joachim Bartz to venture into new shapes.
“Every year the rings became narrower and finer,” he reports. The narrow rings are becoming increasingly popular, and Bartz now knows damask really well. Ever maturing in his knowledge, the technology continues to advance as well. And it is especially the customers who keep bringing new impulses to the workshop. He remembers particularly well when the demand for a wide variety of gold tones in combination with the Damascus steel became ever greater.
“There, too, we are just constantly adapting. But that’s also good. The impulses from outside mean a lot to us and in the end also make our damask rings what they should be. Exactly the rings the couple wanted.”
At the end of each working day in the workshop, Joachim Bartz always takes another look at the rings he has worked on today.
“That fulfills me. Then I’m happy.”
To the final question of which shade he himself would prefer in combination with the Damascus steel, the answer is noticeably not easy for him.
“Each ring has its own individuality and thus also the metal tone chosen by the couple, a very unique and beautiful character.
In the end, however, “his very personal choice would probably fall on a rose gold,” he says and smiles gently.
Joachim Bartz and the Damascus steel
For a long time, Damascus steel was by no means considered a common material for jewelry. Especially not for wedding rings. A portrait of a goldsmith who nevertheless did not let himself be deterred from experimenting with the exciting material and thus found his very own expression.
“When I was a little boy, there was a jewelry gallery in my town,” says goldsmith Joachim Bartz. Something begins to shine in his eyes when he talks about jewelry. As a listener, one can succumb to the impression that Bartz has found in his profession the tool to express himself.
He regards jewelry as actually superfluous. For Joachim Bartz, at least rationally, jewelry has no purpose, indeed no real task, except simply to be beautiful. He is concerned with the expression of the beautiful, the aesthetic. Back then, as a child, his nose was often stuck to the window of the local jewelry gallery, where a wide variety of artists presented their unique pieces. His enthusiasm was above all for the ability to forge such beautiful jewelry from old metal.
In 1993, this fascination led him to begin training as a goldsmith in the Vogtland region. Even then, there were already blacksmiths trying their hand at damask. But they were clunky, Bartz recalls today. In any case, they contradicted his idea of aesthetics.
But he is enthusiastic about this material. When he consciously perceived the damask for the first time, there was a real “wow moment” for him, he says enthusiastically. “The forging work into these small blocks really amazed me at the time”. Even the tinder from the fire was still visible, he recalls. He was particularly taken with the typical grain of the damask.
“These tangible differences in height and this naturally given structure, which nevertheless seems so constructed and planned, makes me hold the damask in my hand with a very special feeling to this day.”
Previously, he had experimented a lot with silver, casting and gold. For a while, he cast natural forms, such as leaves, to also give expression to the natural in his craftsmanship.
But damask never let go of him. Especially because of the myths that have surrounded Damascus steel for centuries, the goldsmith is now really on fire. He wants jewelry with this material. Jewelry that meets his idea of aesthetics.
His first attempts are also strong and massive rings. He takes them to the jewelry fair in Dresden. Has a small stand there and is amazed. In a time in which mainly tantalum and carbon are in vogue in the jewelry world, he is able to take some orders back to his workshop.
Under time pressure, he then sets off in search of high-quality damask. Because quality and perfection have been Bartz’s top priorities since his training. Because even if he actually considers jewelry to be useless, he carries a philosophy deep within himself.
He understands the ring as a perfect symbol. Without beginning and without end. It symbolizes infinity and that is exactly where Joachim Bartz starts. Because his rings should connect people for a lifetime and they should tell stories. The stories of couples.
That is also the reason why he does not want to make any compromises in the quality of his materials and in the processing of these from the very beginning. He has rings in mind that are forged especially for the couple and according to their ideas. There should be no mass production. Instead, perfection in craftsmanship and communication at eye level. Even then, he saw himself as a partner to the couple.
After only a few days, Joachim Bartz knows just about every damask manufacturer in Germany, and even though he describes the time back then as “sometimes very frustrating,” he never felt the desire to quit.
“Damascus is a capricious element,” he says. It always behaves differently and sometimes seems unpredictable. But Bartz keeps going. Experiments with the damask and embarks on a journey of development. Personally and in terms of craftsmanship.
From the beginning, his workshop, founded in 2000, is associated with the Damascus steel. At that time, the men’s rings had been rather more bulky desired. But for the women’s rings, the desire for more filigree is quickly expressed. It is customer requests from that time that lead Joachim Bartz to venture into new shapes.
“Every year the rings became narrower and finer,” he reports. The narrow rings are becoming increasingly popular, and Bartz now knows damask really well. Ever maturing in his knowledge, the technology continues to advance as well. And it is especially the customers who keep bringing new impulses to the workshop. He remembers particularly well when the demand for a wide variety of gold tones in combination with the Damascus steel became ever greater.
“There, too, we are just constantly adapting. But that’s also good. The impulses from outside mean a lot to us and in the end also make our damask rings what they should be. Exactly the rings the couple wanted.”
At the end of each working day in the workshop, Joachim Bartz always takes another look at the rings he has worked on today.
“That fulfills me. Then I’m happy.”
To the final question of which shade he himself would prefer in combination with the Damascus steel, the answer is noticeably not easy for him.
“Each ring has its own individuality and thus also the metal tone chosen by the couple, a very unique and beautiful character.
In the end, however, “his very personal choice would probably fall on a rose gold,” he says and smiles gently.