Today, I’m thrilled to introduce a talented jewelry designer whose pieces capture the delicate balance between nature and art. Winner of the Young Designer Corner prize and the Public Prize at Gemworld, Lissy Ossig has captivated audiences with her unique vision. As a member of the jury, I had the pleasure of interviewing her to learn more about her journey. Influenced by renowned artists like René Lalique and fascinated by the beauty of crystals, Lissy brings a fresh perspective to the world of jewelry. Discover her creative process, sources of inspiration, and future plans in this interview.
Could you tell us a bit about your background and what sparked your journey into jewelry?
Oh yes of course, that is an interesting question because the jewellery really was not with what it all started. Before I even begun in that direction I always liked working with my hands and making tiny sculptures. As a child I always loved doing something artistic, I liked drawing and as I got older I would start teaching myself how to make three dimensional models of tiny animals. My goal was always trying to let them appear as naturalistic as I could manage. Over the years I would get better and better, but it took quite some time and patience to really learn perfection. I always thought I wanted to be an artist like a painter or sculptor, but then someday I realized I wanted to do something with a bit of a different connection with people. Art sometimes is not open to everyone and very often you have to go to a museum to see it. Jewellery is something very interesting, it has an artistic part to it, it can really be very much like a small sculpture that you can wear on your body but it is also something that nearly everyone has. So many people have some jewellery, may it be their wedding rings or a necklace or earrings they wear every day. And jewellery can be precious to us not only because the material is long-lasting and can be very valuable, but it can be somehow be connected to certain memories and loved ones. Often it has some personal meaning. And in my eyes that make jewellery all the more beautiful and have made me decide I wanted to be someone who creates special pieces like that.
Were there any jewelers or artists who inspired you when you were starting out? How did their work influence your own?
René Lalique is someone who has always fascinated me, he was a very famous french art nouveau artist. In my opinion his jewellery is very special, it really has an otherworldly magic to it. His pieces are all inspired by nature, something that gives me myinspiration as well and with his fine metal working and layering of very well chosen colours and a combination with breathtaking pearls and gemstones he manages to create very beautiful scenes. Looking at one of his pieces makes one feel as if one is looking through a window into another world, a mysterious and elegant one. And one jewellery artist from Germany that I also admire is Georg Dober. He is more recent and still living and creating. His pieces are very different compared to Rene Laliques’ but there are still some similarities. Some of his jewellery is very artistic and geometrical but he also finds inspiration in nature. He sometimes casts real insects or parts of plants, like flowers and twigs in metal. But what he uses and selects is very interesting and unusual: for example he once decided to cast only the leftover green parts and the twigs of tomatoes. He did not concern himself with the actual fruit but with the pieces that are usually viewed as ugly and are always immediately cast aside. He transformed this into very beautiful jewellery and from this change of perspective created something new and very striking from what other people might have found ugly and lacking before. I admire the works of those two great artists and it encourages and inspires me to see how they sometimes looked at a certain material or theme in a very different way than what the normal perspective was and then this other point of view created something new and even more beautiful than what had already been out there before. It inspires me to think in different directions and gives me motivation to try out new things or do what has not been done before, for example my new crystal collection.
Where do you typically find inspiration for your jewelry pieces? Are there specific themes or sources that consistently inspire you?
Nature is always a great inspiration for me as well. For example I love going outside with my dog and seeing all the wonders nature keeps bringing to life every day. All the details and all the interesting designs nature makes are really impressive. When I am outside it also helps me think over everything that is in my head and organise my thoughts. And I like collecting special pieces, sometimes there are memories connected with certain stones or seashells I found in beautiful places I had been. In fact I have an entire collection of natural crystals, those I have not found myself, but I have always been fascinated by the way nature can create something so beautiful and perfect and often colourful. This collection has inspired my crystal jewellery. All those different shapes crystals can grow into are very interesting and I love how symmetrical and asymmetrical they can be at the same time. But when I am not outside and it seems like no ideas will come to me I like sitting down, drawing and sketching, doing research on some specific topic that I would like to work with and just experimenting. I like working directly with the material I am planning to use and trying out different things. Sometimes by doing that ideas will crop up, sometimes it even is a specific technique that starts the idea for a piece of jewellery.
Your piece showcased at the Young Designer Corner at Gemworld 2024 made a real impression! Can you walk us through the design concept and creation process?
Okay, yes, sure I would love to, the piece of jewellery that I handed in for the competition is my Crystal Ring. It is a ring that looks like a naturally grown crystal that wraps around your finger and in the centre there is a beautifully cut garnet. As I am good at modelling and I like making tiny sculptures I always try to put that into my jewellery and this ring was also created like that: I made the first model of it in wax. This wax is hard and you can carve and engrave it, you can partly heat and melt it and thus add material or take it away. You can file it and create beautifully plane surfaces and clear geometrical shapes. I worked countless hours and finally the form would resemble a naturally grown crystal more and more. And I also took care to make the stone setting integrate itself seamlessly into the crystal structure. In the end I made a silicon mold and then cast the ring in silver. Then in metal there is still some work ahead and of course I have had to set the stone as well. But as I have a mold now I can cast this ring multiple times and can set different stones.
The design concept:
My fascination with natural crystals has played a huge role in my design concept, it is a wonder in itself that nature can create something so perfect and symmetrical and intense in colour. And the way these stones grow is very impressive: many crystals at the same time can grow in beautiful and strange asymmetrical shapes, even if a single crystal is very symmetrical. Sometimes there even is one crystal of a striking colour that grows on top of many others. This can be very aesthetic. And of course the natural crystal is where the perfect human made gemstone comes from. Gemstones beautifully cut and shaped to perfection play a very important role in jewellery and have been a central element for centuries. They have been honed to utter perfection, the symmetry is even better than the natural crystals and the colours are even more intense. There is an interesting contrast between those perfect gemstones and the natural crystals. I wanted to combine this two in one ring. This piece of jewellery should really bring the garnet in the centre to shine and also cast a light on where those perfect pieces of nature come from. I wanted this ring to connect human and nature seamlessly and remind us that our great treasures originally come from our environment. Therefore it was very important to me to select a stone from a responsible and sustainable company.
How was your experience at Gemworld this year, and what was it like participating in your first major tradeshow?
The crystal ring sparked an entire collection of jewellery: I made other rings with different shapes, pendants and earrings and I brought all of it to the Gemworld in Munich to show how this one idea can grow and take on many different forms. The reaction from the public was great, there were so many nice conversations. There were a number of beautiful moments and people would tell me heartbreaking stories that they connect with a certain pendant or other piece. I also talked with many experienced people from the jewellery and gemstone industry and it was very interesting to hear their point of view. So all in all it was a great experience and I was very happy and so thankful to have been invited there.
What are your upcoming plans to grow your jewelry brand? Are there any new collections or collaborations on the horizon?
First I think I would like to expand the crystal collection a bit, after the fair I have so many new ideas in my head that I would love to try out and experiment with. And maybe there will be some upcoming collaborations. On the other hand I am still a student and go to university so of course I will put my energy into some other and more artistic projects as well. And maybe new ideas for something totally different will come up. But after I have graduated I would definitely love to have my own jewellery brand and will develop all of my collections further. And as I have won a booth at the Gemworld Munich for next year I will be there next autumn from the 23 until the 26 October 2025.
