Diplômée de l’Ecole des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg, Florence Lehmann (née en 1964 à Brumath et membre fondateur de l’Association Corpus) y enseigne aujourd’hui la création du bijou contemporain. Elle collabore aussi au cahier de tendances du CPDHBJO et a été nommée membre du Conseil des Métiers d’Art. Elle crée des collections pour différentes entreprises éditrices de bijoux. Ses pièces uniques, essentiellement en résine blanche – régulièrement exposées dans des galeries ou des musées – entretiennent par leur gestuelle, un rapport étroit avec le corps… (Gal. Elsa Vanier)
“ With the genealogical series of rings, she is pursuing her research on the meaning of the transmission and the mould as a matrix. The imprint is thought of as a complete technique and system for procreation. When the transmission of characters is truly close, successful, like a cloning. These notions of a journey, chain, matrix and their analogies to the body have rarely achieved such a subtle reminiscence in jewellery. » (Michèle Heuzé-Joanno, « généa-logique » -galerie V&V exhibition 2006)
Florence Lehmann – Série généa-logique – bagues en résine moulée d’après des matrice mâles et femelles empreinte génétique de la mère à l’extérieur, celle du père à l’intérieur Clone en or bonne maman moulé d’après la pièce unique en résine or brut de fonte, série limitée éditée par Bellon Créateur 2003-2004
Florence Lehmann - « Naissance bien tournée » portée détourée – 4 perles en bois tourné, peintes – 2003-2004 - photo Jean-Louis Hess
Florence Lehmann – collier « Naissance bien tournée »
The flesh of words,
A common thread in contemporary French jewellery
by Michèle Heuzé-Joanno, exhibition commissioner
« Florence Lehmann ‘bejewels’ her life, dresses her jewellery. Once, as a young girl, head in the clouds, she transformed part of the sky into a brooch, a cut between two roofs. She shared this dream energy, this softness of the blue sky against the blues of the soul, that of metal as a mirror reflecting life. Then, she fell in love, and her work, with humour, puns, constantly narrated this link. From her happiness was born a little girl, Rosa-Lou. The thought process was once again moved; with maturity, the analysis is more subtle, blending maternity with the questioning of the creative process. Her artistic quests are those of all women, all mothers. Her jewellery touches because each one can find in them his or her own story. They are complicit jewellery, without a sophisticated image. Her assets do not change, she knows the communicative strength of colour, words and symbols.
Her colour is white, her penchant red. White is neutral and red acts as a contrast, with words giving the spirit. In this way, a large bracelet takes on consistency with its title: The empty is full (Le vide est un plein). The interior, the empty, is red, cut out in the form of a heart. Profiles of faces serve to describe human relationships, uncertainties. Tu me fais tourner la tête, a ring to turn people’s heads. The waltz, another to be balanced where two profiles face one other in a sceptical dilemma. On a bracelet, the profiles are linked by a red thread: the secret is in the look. The title sometime serves as a riddle or as a link between two elements: Today is a ring where the finger is placed between the inscription “tomorrow” and an old Egyptian medallion, for “yesterday”. The wearer becomes active, you oscillate Between, wisdom and passion, two earrings. The body is active, gestures participating in unveiling the sometimes hidden message. In this way, a ring where “yes” is written on one side and on the other “no”, reflecting the difficulty of speech or the desire of the day…Pushing the involvement of the body and the designer’s taste for words, one earring can only be read when reflected in a mirror.
From the first to all appearances
Why do we wear jewellery? To go out into the world as for the first time, to make us suitable to appear. From the link between this first appearance and the wearing of jewellery to appear, Florence Lehmann studies the mysteries of this.
Think of a ring, a bracelet, a necklace. To put it on, to make it exist, you put it on: and so it is born. Think of yourself, your arrival in this world, this first arrival, this first outing: and so you are born. The journey stops when the child’s head appears, stopped at the nose. Fl. Lehmann freezes time to take advantage of the moment and better understand the jewellery and its significance. The necklace, externally, round like an egg, carries within the silhouette of the wearer. Through necklaces of large pearls that can barely be put on, she translates the sensation of this. Certain pearls remind us of stylised bones, others round and particularly voluminous, like a belly, bear on a flat side the Mysteries of life: cellular divisions from the first three days in fresh and joyous colours. On others, the face is covered by the face of a child, masked by gold leaf, which fades with time. The mystery remains, you can never know everything about somebody, it is through contacts that the veil is lifted.
The internal drawing of the face is taken up again on a gold thread or silver chain, with the faces passing by one another, from one birth to another, between ancestors and children, the jewellery is a chain, a human chain, a genealogical chain. In this way, Fl. Lehmann goes back to our roots. On the bracelet, Noah, the descendants of the latter are enumerated. Its formal complexity takes up the symbolism again: the calligraphic link, in white latex, holds two shells, the mould for objects to come. Since 1998, Fl. Lehmann has been reflecting on the analogy between the plastic birth of shapes and that of men, between creation and procreation. Her colour, white, is participative here. “White, on our soul, acts like absolute silence… This silence is not dead, it overflows with possibilities for life…it is a nothing full of juvenile joy or, to put it better, a nothing before any birth, before any beginning”.
With the genealogical series of rings, she is pursuing her research on the meaning of the transmission and the mould as a matrix. The imprint is thought of as a complete technique and system for procreation. When the transmission of characters is truly close, successful, like a cloning, Fl. Lehmann reflects it in noble metal and not white resin. These notions of a journey, chain, matrix and their analogies to the body have rarely achieved such a subtle reminiscence in jewellery. »
Florence Lehmann, « Naissance Neuf Perles » – 9 perles perles creuses en résine blanche imprimée la feuille d’or s’efface par usure sur anneau rigide en métal 2002 (images from also known as jewelry at Velvet da Vinci Gallery)
Florence Lehmann, « Naissance Neuf Perles » Necklace (detail)(images from also known as jewelry at Velvet da Vinci Gallery)
Florence LehmannCollier « Naissance 18 Perles ». Perles creuses en résine blanche imprimée, anneau rigide en métal.
Florence Lehmann / Naissance – collier résine blanche sur âme légère 2002 – photo Jean-Louis Hess
Florence Lehmann ‘Noé’ – bracelet en trois parties résine sur âme légère reliée par du latex imprimé 1998
Florence Lehmann ‘Petit vide est plein’ anneau en plexi blanc taillé et laqué 1996
Florence Lehmann – collier torque « coeur réfléchi »
Florence Lehmann – collier torque – resine, argent, pâte de verre
