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The famous tradition of gem-cutting

I am halfway through my artist-in-residence period so I guess it’s time to write. I wrote (in Dutch) about my start at the Bengel factory, in my second week I have been cutting stones and searching stones and buying stones and cutting some more stones. The Fachhochschule has an excellent stone-cutting workshop and I have taken my time to get to handle the sawing machines.

I was in Idar-Oberstein for a stone-cutting workshop twenty years ago and just like back then, there is a moment when stone takes over your brain. Your thinking stops, there is just the stone battling your will and wish to shape it. I am in search of that particular moment in which you get to master the machine followed by the moment in which you can follow your intuition. The stone at hand takes over and guides you in the direction of how it needs to be cut. It’s wonderful when that happens.

Idar-Oberstein is an interesting place. There is the famous tradition of gem-cutting dating back to the15th century. Agates were locally found, as well as the stones needed to make grinding wheels. The river Nahe provided water power for the mills. History evolves and as the local mines were emptied in the beginning of the 19th century, but people from this region discovered the huge (and beautiful) agate deposits in Brasil, which revived the industry in Idar-Oberstein. Tons of gemstones have been transported to Idar-Oberstein over the past two centuries. I personally added some weight to this: I have personally brought at least fifty kilos of Belgian (and other) stones with me 

We (me and Daisy who came to visit) visited the site of the historical ‘Hopstätter Achatschleife’ which was abandoned after woeld war II when waterpower was replaced by electricity. There was not much left of the two houses that made up the agate workshop but I did however manage to find some agate pieces amongst the rubble. I don’t know of a better way to feel connected to these stone-cutters who lived and worked at least a century ago.

Less known is the fact that the Idar-Oberstein region has a copper mine. Copper has been mined here since the bronze age but mining stopped in the early 19th century when extraction was no longer economical. The Bengel factory fits very well in this metal tradition. Bringing stone and metal together will be my aim in the next weeks.