Otto Jakob – A talented goldsmith

A TV Feature for the euromaxx Magazine

Filming a goldsmith at work sounds simpler than it is. The objects are small, the gestures delicate, the light in the workshop complex. For this Deutsche Welle euromaxx feature, Basiliscus Film developed the exposé and structured the dramaturgy so that Otto Jakob's work is not merely explained, but truly made visible: from the first sketch through nature studies in the garden to the finished pieces that work like sculptures. We filmed at his Jugendstil villa in Karlsruhe – with the eye for detail that this kind of craft portrait demands.

The feature was made immediately before Jakob's appearance at TEFAF in Maastricht, the most prestigious art fair in Europe – a timing that gives the film a natural topicality and underlines the artist's international standing. From research through direction and off-text to post-production in Berlin: everything from a single source, delivered broadcast-ready.

Who is Otto Jakob?

Otto Jakob is not merely a goldsmith – he is above all a jewellery artist. At the age of seventeen he begins making jewellery entirely self-taught. His motivation: the masterworks of the Etruscans, the Greeks and the Celts. They captivate him and set everything in motion. He studies independently and with great fascination the craft descriptions of Pliny and Cellini, sculptors and goldsmiths of antiquity, and teaches himself their complex techniques. From 1977 to 1980, Otto Jakob studies painting under Georg Baselitz in Karlsruhe.

Since 1980, the 64-year-old has devoted himself exclusively to the art of goldsmithing. Collectors worldwide have since taken notice of his work. He exhibits at Daniel Blau in Munich and at Colnaghi and Hancocks in London. From 11 March 2016, the jeweller presents his latest creations at TEFAF in Maastricht. But before that, our camera team visits him for the lifestyle magazine euromaxx.