EuropeanLife Magazine 2018 #1 #1 | Page 10

Innovative and exclusively designed jewelry by Marc Lange T he Netherlands boasts a number of highly re- nowned jewelry designers whose contemporary and one- of-a-kind designs have struck a chord with people across the globe. It’s simply because they always seek to push the boundaries when it comes to expressing what they feel through their alluring designs. At the top of the list is none other than Marc Lange who is the most awarded goldsmith in the country today. The handmade and original designs, but also the more com- mon jewelry by Lange have for years been reason enough for relations from both home and abroad to visit his store at the Mient in Alkmaar. “It feels very rewarding to be able to design a piece of jewelry according to the wishes, the feelings and the needs of people who wear these for many years. This entire experience is sometimes akin to cherish- ing a lifetime memory,” he said. Lange is mostly known for his handicrafts and special de- signs with a recognizable signature, which has deepened significantly over the years. With each new design he works on, his creativity is challenged again and again to the ex- tent that he is easily able to go one step further which he reckons is all about seeking out his limits. The possibilities 10 are getting bigger and even more versatile especially since he uses a computer-controlled turning and milling machine (CNC). With the help of this technique, he makes parts for jewelry hundred percent accurate to the thousandth of a millimeter and thus he is able to create works of art that couldn’t previously be made with such a higher degree of precision. One of Marc’s new masterpieces is ‘It’s a kind of magic’, a pendant that visualizes the planet Neptune in a sublime way and incorporates different colors of gold, titanium, black zirconium and brilliant blue, black and white dia- monds. The pendant is spatially designed and can be ro- tated in different ways. When the pendant is ‘closed’, you see Neptune as the center of the planetary system with a core in which a large blue diamond is placed and an ‘equa- tor’ of light blue diamonds. Around it on one side you see tight circles, rings of gold, titanium, black zirconium and white and black diamonds. On the other hand, the other side is eccentrically shaped, lighter in color and has a femi- nine, soft appearance. Once opened, the object beautifully shows a playful interplay of lines through gimbaled rotating rings around Neptune. He made the rotation of the circles possible by making one circle hollow and giving it a bulge in the adjacent circle. As a result, the circles fit perfectly together and can still make a turn. The pendant can be worn in many ways and each time has a different look making it a truly unique showpiece for the wearer. People regularly come to see Lange at his store primarily to ask him to design an ornament with emotion behind it. “If a relative comes to me with a request to make a personal piece of jewelry for them, I first visualize the preference of the wearer based on various examples from my oeuvre. I look at the type that jewelry will take shape. For example: If this person is a blonde type with blue eyes, the design can be different than with a dark type,” he said. Lange looks attentively at the colors and materials that actually match your type. These are some factors that are extremely important to evaluate for the sake of the final design. “I try to adjust the measurements accurately and I make a composition completely to your liking. When you come to pick up your ring and it slides at your finger in one go because it is perfectly tailored for you, then everything is right,” he said. For more information on Marc Lange, please visit: www.marclange.nl/en/home-2/ Marc Lange   11