JULIA OBERMAIER (b.1989)

Julia Obermaier works in her atelier in Kempten, near Munich, Germany. A lapidary artist, she is known for bringing life to stones by exposing their beauty and imperfections believing that each one has a unique story to tell.

"Stones fascinate me. Every little part of them is unique and an embodiment of unswayable nature. A human being can shape a stone but not fabricate one. The material stone has something majestic. It is a hard-bitten material, heavy, stable but also light and fragile. Stonecutting takes a lot of time and patience and resembles a meditation. It is as if the stone keeps the eternity within itself to thwart the fast pace of our time. My playing hands are the tools for my ideas and thinking. Through them I feel and touch the surface and the outlines of the material."

She started her jewelry career by apprenticing with a goldsmith at the State Vocational School for Glass and Jewelry in Kaufbeuren-Neugablonz after which she studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Trier, Idar Oberstein, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in gemstones and Jewelry. Following an Exchange Semester at the Royal Melbourne institute of Technology in Melbourne Australia, Julia went on to study for and receive her Master of Advanced Design at Munich’s University of Applied Sciences.

Obermaier has exhibited her work at galleries across Europe since 2014 and twice been a finalist for the BVK-Prize in Munich (2020 and 2023) awarded “to works that show unique artistic creation based on fine craftsmanship” for artists under 35. In 2022 she was a finalist and awarded the Special Mention prize in the prestigious Loewe Craft prize competition and showed in the Hauser and Wirth exhibit “Within. Without” in Zurich, Switzerland. Her jewelry has also been shown in exhibits in contemporary art museums in Japan and Lithuania.

Obermaier’s work was featured in the Mahnaz Collection exhibition, Materials In Play (April 24, 2023- May 5, 2023).

Click here to view a Conversation between NYC Jewelry Week co-founder, Bella Neyman and Julia Obermaier.