Ulrich Reithofer describes his jewellery as being ‘about love, life, cosmic irony and all the rest’. Often flirting with mythology and iconic imagery, his inspiration is eclectic; from ancient Egyptian symbols to Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles via the music of Faith No More. Using wood and stones, pearls and seeds, gold and shells, silver and silk, Ulrich’s work is essentially narrative, on a scale that affords it an intimate relationship with the human body. 

Ulrich Reithofer, who was born in Wels in Austria in 1978, trained in civil engineering before studying stone cutting and jewellery design at Fachhochschule Trier in Idar-Oberstein. He gained his master’s from the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam in 2005. His work is held in collections such as the Marzee Collection, the Alice and Louis Koch Collection in Zurich, Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry Collection in Tokyo and the Rotasa Foundation in California.