Using the ancient technique of guilloché on metal, enamel or amber, which lends the material a vibrant visual quality, Miriam Arentz enjoys bringing opposing forces together to create an element of surprise: a technique from a bygone era and vitality; the geophysical forces of nature and humanity’s transformation of nature. Elements that, at first glance, seem contradictory, brought together to unsettle our senses, yet subtly soothed by the reverie of a poem, the interplay of a jigsaw puzzle or the promise of a school of fish, revealing another reality: everything transforms, everything recombines. Through these metamorphoses, the artist also questions her own creative process: what does it mean to create, when every material already carries within it a story, a memory, forces and forms to be recombined?
Miriam Arentz uses the guilloché technique, which involves mechanically engraving fine, undulating lines into the material. This ancient engraving technique she discovered at the jewellery workshop of the Berlin Technical Museum, where machines dating from the era of pre-industrial mass-produced jewellery are still in use. She adapts this process – traditionally associated with enamel – to amber, favouring minimalist, straight lines and the reuse of materials. The metal, which is then embossed, provides the necessary relief for her compositions.
Miriam Arentz lives and works in Berlin. She studied at the University of Bremen and Humboldt University of Berlin (Cultural Studies) and at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HAWK) in Hildesheim (Metal Design). Her guilloché pieces have been showcased at several exhibitions and festivals, notably in Germany (Schmuck and Inhorgenta), Spain (Joya Barcelona), Italy (Venice Design Week), Belgium (Brussels Jewellery Week) and Finland (Koru 8), and have won numerous awards: in 2022 at Inhorgenta, Munich, the International Amber Association, Legnica, and Amberif Design, Gdańsk; in 2024 at The Art of Making, Berlin; and in 2026 at the Goldsmith Art Competition, Gdańsk.
She took part in the ‘Bestiaire Star’ exhibition at Galerie Hectare in 2024.
