The VILLA STUCK Museum presents a comprehensive work exhibition by Lisa Walker, born in 1967 in Wellington, New Zealand. She is considered one of the most influential contemporary jewellery makers. Walker transforms everyday objects into jewelry.

Dunedin, 1988-89 | Auckland, 1992-1995

Right from the start, Lisa Walker asked what jewellery can mean and what it can be. As a student in Dunedin, New Zealand, she learned goldsmithing from Georg Beer in the late 1980s, “an incredible gift,” as she says. Walker built on these skills and experimented with unusual materials and processes such as wool and weaving. Walker often traveled abroad during these years and eventually settled in Auckland, 1992. She continued to research new techniques, her jewellery developed into raw, natural shapes – often inspired by beaches and forests.

Munich 1995-2009

After moving to Munich in 1995, Walker took a new direction with her work. Her six-year studies with Otto Künzli at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich inspired her to “unlearn” everything she had learned in her previous training. Walker began to use glue to use the “jewellery cheater” as visible material, raising the question: “Why should we hide him?” At the same time, she introduced unusual – often discarded – materials into her work, fabric, cardboard as well as dust and dirt from the floor of her studio. What is beauty? How does jewelry relate to popular culture, art and life? These are questions that Walker examines in her work.

Wellington, 2009-2020
Back in New Zealand, Lisa Walker is still pushing the boundaries of contemporary jewelry design. It is inspired by local as well as international influences, from politics to comics. Lisa Walker’s perennial question, “How far can I go with the ready-to-use or accidentally found object?” She answers directly: “Everything is food for art.”