Vera Stassen transformed siliconised coal developed by her into jewellery. This was preceded by a comprehensive study of the material where the jewellery designer examined the joining of the raw material of coal with silicon, a technique which up to now has only been used in industry. The processing makes the coal robust and gives it an aesthetically interesting surface quality. The siliconisation provides the coal with a firm microstructure and the originally breakable and black rock is given the characteristics of a gemstone and can be worn.

Vera Stassen was born in 1986 in Essen, Germany and lives in Krefeld. She completed her apprenticeship to become a goldsmith in Kevelaer and afterwards studied product design at the Niederrhein university of applied sciences in Krefeld and at the Aalto university in Helsinki, Finland. Furthermore, she attended external courses at the Düsseldorf university of applied sciences, the Folkwang university of the arts in Essen and the Cologne International School of Design. Since 2012 Vera Stassen has had a scholarship from the German academic scholarship foundation.

verastassen.de/