Sour, delicious and not what you think: the stage is set for jewellery designer Benedict Haener

It’s rare for something to grab my undivided attention while I’m scrolling almost apathetically on Instagram. Everything looks too similar; I’ve seen it too often. But I’ve never seen a necklace made of jelly apple rings! Bright green and sprinkled with plenty of sugar, it forces its way into my field of vision. Even though the supposedly foamy fruit gums, chained together like jewellery, snake around a neck, my jaw clenches at the thought of their sour taste. Pure childhood nostalgia! I need to know more.

And I find out more from Benedict Haener. The 32-year-old designer from Horn, Thurgau, created this beautiful piece. It’s part of his Kill Your Darling collection and, of course, it’s not made of fruit-flavoured jelly sweets. It’s actually made of resin, glass and diamonds.

Benedict Haener

The designer is a trained goldsmith, studied industrial design at GBS St.Gallen and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. He won the Swiss Goldsmith Championship in 2012 and is a former winner of the ST.ART Rising Star Prize for Culture – Design & Art and the HWK Munich Talent Prize..

What came first, your passion for jewellery or your passion for repurposing and reinterpreting things?

Benedict Haener: Definitely jewellery. Initially, I completed an apprenticeship as a goldsmith and then did some further training in product design. Now I design contemporary jewellery. It’s primarily about art and concepts.

I first became aware of you through your apple and peach ring necklaces. So nostalgic. Why these sweets in particular?

I was originally interested in the idea of challenging traditional values, such as classic diamonds in the jewellery world. So, I crushed them and used them as imitation sugar. Goldsmiths often use diamond-coated tools, and I wanted to bring this back into jewellery. In one of my first attempts – I was still working with glass instead of diamonds for cost reasons – I coated a pink stone with the «sugar». It looked like a sweet and immediately reminded me of the iconic sour apple rings. That was the starting point.

So the collection was basically an accident?

Yes. Every design process is actually a mixture of chance and realising that you’ve created something exciting. Art is turning that into something.

I've also seen pieces that look like sugar cubes, wine glasses and ice cubes. Are you fond of food and drink in general?

Ha, no. Not really. I enjoy imitating food and other everyday items. The sugar cubes came about from the same concept as the apple and peach rings: imitating cheap materials like sugar with expensive materials. It’s usually the other way round, with cheap things imitating expensive things.

*Your challenge of monetary value is probably most obvious in pieces made from banknotes.

Exactly. The first thing I do is destroy the note and its value. Or rather the value that society has given it. And then I create new value. Artistic or poetic value.

How many times do you increase the value of, for example, the ring made from a 10-franc note, by investing your time and skill?

There’s no easy answer to that. I’ve added a new amount to some notes, 1,500 or 2,000 francs for example. So that’s already what they're worth new. I think the ring is around 1,000 francs. But it’s more of a symbolic value. Because with all the hours of work, including developing the concept, it doesn’t really add up. Or not yet at least.

If I understand correctly, you mainly work with glass and resin. What do you particularly like about them?

Basically, I work with whatever creates the right effect for the idea I have at the time. But I like combining expensive and cheap materials. Resin is easy to work with – you can easily manipulate the colour and its intensity, for example. It’s also easy to pour, which is important.

Will you ever have run-of-the-mill pieces of jewellery available for purchase?

Probably not. However, I’m currently setting up a jewellery brand with three other artists in Lucerne: Garten Eben. It’s not run-of-the-mill, but it’s definitely more wearable.

*Do you think our day-to-day life is far too boring?

Oh, not really. I like beautiful things, but most objects should be functional first and foremost. I’m a pragmatic person. Luckily, jewellery is never really useful. That’s why I want to trigger emotions with it.

Thank you very much for the interview!