Silver
Silver is a precious metal often seen as a more affordable alternative to gold. That is partly true. It is more affordable and behaves differently. Precisely because of that, it is interesting.
When I registered with the Chamber of Commerce in 2007, I did not have the budget to work in gold. Next year, I will mark twenty years as an independent goldsmith. When I think back to the beginning, I see silver. A great deal of silver.
My first collection was made entirely in silver. It was what I could afford at the time, and it gave me the space to grow and to learn. That collection went in every direction: clean lines, organic shapes, bold textures and minimalist rings. I was searching and making, discovering where my hands and my mind worked together. Sometimes it worked beautifully, sometimes not at all. But technically, I learned an enormous amount.
Silver hides very little; whatever you do, you see immediately on the surface. At the same time, it offers room to experiment with texture, oxidation, and contrast. In that phase, it was the ideal material for me.
From silver to gold
Later, there was room to start working in gold. And honestly, those first gold pieces felt daunting. It was a considerable investment, and I genuinely wondered whether they would sell. Thankfully, they did. That created confidence and, in turn, more room to invest in gold and in exceptional gemstones. My work became more refined, and gold increasingly took the lead in my collection.
During that period, I discovered how powerful the combination of silver and gold can be. Oxidised silver against which golden granules truly stand out. A silver ring with a distinct texture and a gold setting that allows a gemstone to come forward more strongly. The contrast shaped the design.
Over time, however, my focus gradually shifted entirely towards gold. It happened slowly and felt logical at that moment. Silver moved into the background.
The return of silver – Aurargent
A few years ago, I was scrolling through old photographs of my work and saw those silver-and-gold combinations again. And I thought: why did I ever stop? I could see once more how strong the contrast was and how much character silver brought to a design. I wanted that back in my work.
So I decided to begin again with a series of rings. Rings are my favourite piece of jewellery. I love making them; they are technically challenging and at the same time deeply personal. From there, the Aurargent collection was born.
The name Aurargent is a fusion of aurum (gold) and argentum (silver). It says exactly what it is: a combination of two precious metals that enhance one another. In this collection, silver takes the lead, while gold is used deliberately as an accent: in a setting, in granules, or to give a gemstone greater presence.
Aurargent is my conscious return to silver and to working with texture and contrast. Each ring is made entirely by hand in my atelier in Beltrum. At times, I choose a more valuable gemstone because the design calls for it. Not to impress, but because material, form and comfort must work together.
In a time when the gold price has risen significantly, silver is once again relevant, not as a substitute for gold, but as a precious metal with its own distinct character. Aurargent therefore sits in a different price category from my fully gold collections, yet these are not “inexpensive” rings. They remain handmade pieces of jewellery, each unique, designed and crafted over nearly 20 years of craftsmanship, knowledge and experience.
Every ring begins from the same foundation as my other collections: attention to material, comfort and the balance between form and gemstone. The difference lies not in quality, but in material choice and design vision.
For me, silver does not stand beneath gold. It stands beside it.
