The exhibition, Sam Tho Duong – 6th Hanau Goldsmith Laureate, will be presented from January 28 through April 17, 2016 in the Gold Hall with around 130 objects which demonstrate the versatile work of this well-known artist. The span of the exhibition pieces ranges from highly spatial necklaces to delicate brooches. Also included are around 40 works by students of the Staatliche Zeichenakademie that were created during the workshop, “Steps of Attention,” given by Sam Tho Duong in the summer of 2015.
Sam Tho Duong (b. 1969) is counted among the internationally recognized jewelry designers on the basis of his extremely multi-faceted design ideas and his broad, sometimes highly individual, spectrum of materials. His exhibitions have been shown in Germany and worldwide.
As the 6th Hanau Goldsmith Laureate, the Pforzheim artist worked at the Staatliche Zeichenakademie for six weeks in the summer of 2015. During his residence in Hanau, he occupied himself with the Brothers Grimm and dedicated a separate, very creative work to them. Sam Tho Duong arranged two silver, pointed caps on a book of fairy tales opened to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Sam Tho Duong created an amusing story to go with this work. He claims to have found the caps in a “dungeon” of the German Goldsmith’s House. Two dwarfs who had traveled to Hanau to meet the Brothers Grimm supposedly forgot their caps on their hasty departure, according to a scientific investigation.
Humor often marks Sam Tho Duong’s work in other respects as well, for example when he gave his series of jewelry objects made of Actimel bottles the title lemitcA. In addition to silver and plastic, Sam Tho Duong designs his jewelry with cherry stones, freshwater “rice grain” pearls, amber, gingerroot, or even shoelaces and toilet paper.
The artist, born in Viet Nam, got an extensive training as a goldsmith, graduating from the Berufsfachschule and Berufskolleg in Pforzheim and training with the world famous firm of Wellendorf. He followed this with studies at the Hochschule für Gestaltung where he received his degree in 2002. Sam Tho Duong has been working as a freelance designer for the past 13 years.
Since 2004, the City of Hanau has appointed a Hanau Goldsmith Laureate every two years and makes the funds available for a six-week residency in the Brothers Grimm City. The Society for Goldsmiths’ Art invites the artist, the Staatliche Zeichenakademie provides the workspace, and the Goldsmith’s House presents the resulting works in an exhibition.