Harry Bertoia innovative jewelry

Harry Bertoia innovative jewelry
An Italian-born American sculptor and designer, Harry Bertoia (1916–1978) gained recognition from an early age for his innovative jewelry. He began designing jewelry at the age of eighteen, and by 1937 he had a portfolio that enabled him to become a full scholarship student and Head of the Metalworking Workshop at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Bertoia opened his first studio in 1939 and continued to produce innovative jewelry during the war years.
Bertoia later began to create large sculptures and became known as the inventor of sound sculptures. They were abstract, free-standing metalworks, some of which resonated with sound as the moving elements tinkled in the wind. Bertoia called them “sonambients”.
In 1946, the Museum of Modern Art and the Walker Art Center presented the Bertoia jewels alongside the creations of Alexander Calder. That same year, he became a US citizen, moved to Bally, Pennsylvania, and set up his own design and sculpture studio near the Knoll factory.

A multi-faceted designer, he hand-crafted the patented Diamond chair for Knoll, which looks like a bird with outstretched wings. In 1952, he was an immediate commercial success and became a modern design icon with the introduction of industrial wire mesh in furniture design.
Bertoia received awards from the American Institute of Architects in 1973 and from the American Academy of Letters in 1975.