news
  • 21.3. - 21.9.2025
    exhibition

    our project "the idea of a tree" is part of the 2nd solar biennale "Soleil-s" at the MUDAC in Lausanne.
    Will live production of objects for their permanent collection on the 19.March, 21.June, 21.September

    MUDAC - solar biennale 2

  • ongoing
    permanent installation

    "Vital Rain" is a permanent installation in the museum yard. The installation was commissioned on the occasion of the "water pressure" exhibition in 2024

    MK&G Hamburg

  • ongoing
    interior design

    We developed the interior for the "Direktion - für alle". A multipurpose room in the MAK for workshops, readings, lectures, receptions, or simply as a place to relax.

    MAK

  • 22.5 - 6.7.2025
    exhibition

    our "ratio" project is part of the 13th edition of the Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial with the topic "Resource(s), Foreseeing the future"

    Design Biennale Saint Etienne

  • 6.6.2025 - 25.1.2026
    exhibition

    the "curiosity cloud-european edition" is part of the exhibition "WEtransFORM European Bauhaus and behond" exhibition. This adapted version represents extinct, endangered and common insects from Europe.

    Bundeskunsthalle Bonn

  • 18.9.2024 - 18.5.2025
    exhibition

    our "access" glasses are part of the exhibition AUT NOW - 100 x Austrian design for the 21st century.

    MAK - AUT NOW

  • april 2024 - ongoing
    factory tour

    We designed the factory tour for Laufen in Gmunden with a lot of details and small installations to guide and inform local and international guests.

    Laufen Gmunden

  • 2025
    awards

    Happy that the "access" glasses won the PULSE Award and the 3rd place at the Austrian "Neptun-Wasserpreis"

real image & finger blocks

jewellery responding to our behaviour with digital devices

  • year 2018

  • category Products & Furniture

  • commissioned by

    chp…? jewelry

  • for

    Exhibition ‘Device People’

Devices have taken over our lives. According to British research, the average smartphone user checks their phone 221 times a day. Thanks to our smartphones and mobile Internet, there is always an open window that overlooks an infinite world of communications, information and entertainment. As Jacob Weisberg suggested in a recent article in The New York Review of Books, we have all turned into ‘device people’ and our transformation into device people has happened with unprecedented suddenness. The first iPhones went on sale in June 2007 – less than 10 years ago – followed by the first Android-powered phones in the following year. Smartphones increased in market penetration faster than any other consumer technology in history. Today, not carrying a smartphone indicates eccentricity, social marginalization, or old age.

The omnipresent screen culture is responsible for a social transformation. There are numerous situations in which our devices take away our attention and a conversation is swapped for a glance down at a screen. The chat app is what the cigarette was in the last century: a symbolic consumption good that makes a significant contribution to the running of the economy. While the most profit flows to large companies, the consumer will have comfort and pleasure in return. But somewhere in the system are hidden costs that cannot be felt immediately. In the case of the cigarette, lungs are slowly destroyed. But what is the hidden cost of becoming device people? And how can a piece of jewelry respond to this transformation?

text by: chp…? jewelry

 

real image

real image is a mirror in the palm of our hands, the place that normally holds our smartphone — an attempt to remind us that we are part of the here and now and not only of our digital surrounding.

the mirrored surface encourages self-reflection by actually showing how often we 'check' our devices
image credit: Buro Belén - chp...? jewelry

real image in two colours, mimicking the display of the average smartphone
image credit: Buro Belén - chp...? jewelry

finger blocks

finger blocks invite us to stop using our devices – By introducing a new type of ornament, a fingertip cover, that combines functionality with decoration, the jewelry pieces help bringing the attention from the devices back to the ‘real world’. Wearing finger blocks also signalises your attention to the sourrounding

sketch of the model

blocking two most used fingertips
image credit: Buro Belén - chp...? jewelry

finger blocks worn on a necklace when they are not in use
image credit: Buro Belén - chp...? jewelry

finger blocks necklace
image credit: Buro Belén - chp...? jewelry

on the top the real image jewelry piece looks like a normal ring

  • material

    finger blocks

    silver 925
    3D printed

    real image

    stainless steel, titanium nitride coated glass/ black coated glass

  • dimensions

    finger blocks

    2 x 4 cm

    real image

    2 x 4 cm

  • team

    Katharina Mischer, Thomas Traxler, Elisa Polner, Claire Garcia-Webb

  • developed for

    ‘device people’ exhibition by chp…? jewelry at Alcova, Milan Design Week 2018