Ulrike Poelk / Jewelry

With surprisingly playful and trendy ideas Ulrike Poelk breaks with old habits. Her attraente necklace (meaning “attractive” in Italian), for example, can be worn in many different ways around the neck or on the arm. Invisible, integrated magnets make for smaller or larger nodes when the wearer plays with the necklace. What might be regarded as disruptions, however, are playful design elements that can be dispersed by nothing more than a gentle pull. Her “chainge” collection is more or less related to “attraente.” She similarly uses magnets and steel, but combines them here with traditional materials such as pearl or coral. Hung simply around the neck, the resulting chains seem almost like classical pieces of jewelry. For example, the seemingly classical coral chain can be transformed into a charming looped broche. Worn partly over and partly under one’s clothing, it creates a type of jewelry that’s half chain and half brooch.