Carl Dau

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Carl Dau

Carl Dau (born November 30, 1942 in Thorn) is a German designer .

Life and work

Carl Dau grew up in Brandenburg . In 1960 he began training as a seaman in Bremen , after which he spent four years in the merchant marine . At the age of 23 he began the goldsmith apprenticeship . In 1972, immediately after taking the master craftsman's examination at the Hanau drawing academy , he went to Berlin to complete a further course of study at the University of Fine Arts as part of the promotion of talented craftsmen. Parallel to this course of study, he set up his first workshop in Berlin and became a teacher at the vocational school for goldsmiths. Finally, between 1976 and 1978, a third course followed, also at the University of Fine Arts, but this time in the field of industrial design.

In 1980 he gave up teaching and started his own business.

In the first years of his freelance work, Carl Dau worked alone and concentrated on larger objects.

Object 1980

In 1983 he left the creative field of object art. From then on, he devoted himself and his work exclusively to jewelry.

The series jewelry

Carl Dau actually never worked on the one-off during his freelance work. His ambitions were always directed towards the series, even if the concept of seriality has been modified and clarified in the meantime.

The first series, which emerged in the early eighties, were dominated by graphics. They still clearly breathe the echoes of object art and often appear like cultivated, scaled-down wall objects. Preferred shapes were circles, triangles and squares, which were offered in different material combinations and with very different graphic structures.

Between unique and ready-made

Carl Dau and his team have been working in the workshop and studio building in Berlin since 1996.

In contrast to manual production, by sourcing many parts, the focus is uncompromisingly on the performance of modern machines, on the precision and always the same appearance of the machine products. In contrast to industrial production, however, where a quasi-manual design language is still cultivated in many areas, the machine parts production is not concealed here, but made visible.

SR-A 10

What distinguishes his work from unique artistic pieces is the seemingly depersonalized objectivity of the solutions as well as the design of the parts freed from coincidences and emotions. This design method certainly corresponds to the ambitions of the designer; but it follows primarily and with compelling necessity from the serial character of this jewelry.

SK-B 11

In contrast to the usual serial jewelry, however, Dau's works are practically teaching examples for workmanship and material justice.

Since 2010, Carl Dau has dedicated himself to the creation and manufacture of wall objects, parallel to jewelry design.

Awards

1983 Prize of the State of Berlin
1987 Hessian State Prize for German Arts and Crafts
1988 State Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg
2018 Jewelry Design Award. 1st place in the silver / stainless steel category for the ar-oval bracelet

Museums and collections (selection)

  • Decorative Arts Museum Berlin
  • Hanau goldsmith's house
  • Museum of Arts and Crafts Hamburg
  • MAK - Museum of Applied Arts Frankfurt

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k C.F.Dau: Design Classics, The Rings . Verlag form, ISBN 3-931317-69-2
  2. ↑ a b Modern Jewelry Design . Arnoldsche Publishing House, ISBN 978-3-89790-292-3
  3. ↑ Yearbook Selection 99 . Jewelry, watches and objects. Design Center North Rhine Westphalia
  4. ↑ a b c d Interview with Carl Dau. In: Schmuckmagazin , 1/2004
personal data
SURNAME Dow, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German designer
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Thorn