
F
or the team at Atelier Zobel, the art of making jewelry transcends mere adornment. Their shared vision is bolstered by a celebration of their differences, the nuances in their perspectives, and the characteristics that make each individual unique. Goldsmith and designer, Peter Schmid, leads the Atelier Zobel team by example. His wholehearted embrace of a wide spectrum of artistic and creative endeavors, his revel of beauty in even the smallest details of the natural world or the grandest of human triumphs, inspires a mindfulness in perception. Fascinated by beauty as a subjective concept, Peter recognizes that it is everywhere if one is open to receiving it, and that it holds the power to render perfection in the imperfections of both man and nature.
Peter’s reverence for nature in all of its forms is evident in the gemstones, pearls, fossils and found objects to which he gives voice.

Image courtesy of Atelier Zobel
Peter’s reverence for nature in all of its forms is evident in the gemstones, pearls, fossils and found objects to which he gives voice. He communes with the materials with which he works, establishing a lexicon that allows their inherent essence to be revealed in his designs. Honoring the varieties in color, saturation, cuts and inclusions that make them unique, their rightful place in his work reveals itself through his patient and thoughtful approach to the design and fabrication process.

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His distinctive use of pure gold in combination with oxidized silver is an expression of his adoration of the structural properties that create technical and physical challenges in working with the precious metals. His meticulous and exhaustive training and his confidence in his team’s abilities allows him the aesthetic and tactile rewards of overcoming these intrinsic barriers.

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With finishes and forms that are breathtaking in both scale and singularity, his work is clearly that of a master artisan with a wellspring of passion for his craft. His collection also pays homage to other artforms, with hints of urushi, the Japanese lacquering technique, which Peter studied in-depth at the Escuela Masana in Barcelona, a distinguishing element of many of his most iconic designs.

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Citing curiosity as his greatest source of inspiration, Peter’s worldview is deeply entrenched in his childhood, memories of crawling over stacks of wood in his father’s lumberyard in rural Ostrach, feeling an unquenchable wonderment at the world around him, are an ongoing source of joy. Or being deeply engrossed in the pages of a book, reading about the world outside of his sphere and marveling at its infinite possibilities. He continues to nurture his curiosity and interests, traveling the globe and learning about new cultures, growing through others’ perspectives, and gaining an understanding of alternative paradigms of thought.

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Peter applies this sense of expansiveness to his creative output. Drawing from themes of the nature, he often brings earth’s most beautiful creatures to life, a butterfly’s golden wings fluttering above an opal body, a scintillatingly sparkling snake slivering up one’s finger, swirling metal evoking the whorls of a snail.

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There is also in Peter’s designs, which are expertly brought to life by skilled Atelier Zobel artisans, a sense of organization and structure, with geometric shapes and patterns that bring to mind a visual dialect of cultural mores, or the chaotic order of an urban landscape. With two storefronts—one in Konstanz, Germany and one in Zurich, Switzerland—Peter and the entire team are closely aligned with collectors of their work, and they work in flow to find the piece that perfectly complements their individuality.