First tension rings designer ( Friedrich Becker )

Friedrich Becker is recognized as the designer of the first tension rings as shown in the image on the left.

He grew up in Gravestones Sauerland. He graduated from school in Düsseldorf as a trained mechanic. In 1940 he attended the aviation engineering college in Thorn/Weichsel and completed his studies from 1947 to 1951 at the industrial art college of Düsseldorf. In 1952 he passed his degree and opened his own workshop in Düsseldorf. He also worked as an assistant of Professor Karl Schollmayer.

In 1964 Friedrich Becker took over the management of the metal design workgroup (gold and silver) at the Düsseldorf Industrial Art School and in 1970 became director of studies and teacher trainer. Three years later he was appointed professor at the Düsseldorf technical college, where he taught until his retirement in 1982.

"Friedrich Becker is one of the outstanding celebrity artists of our times. As an internationally renowned goldsmith, a creator of kinetic jewellery and kinetic objects, a designer and last but not least a professor at the Düsseldorf Technical College he made a major contribution to goldsmith art in the second half of the twentieth century. As early as the 1950s Friedrich Becker developed hidden mountings with interchangeable stones using tension rings techniques considered a technical marvel at the time. This new concept led in the 1960s to kinetics, where Friedrich Becker first introduced the fourth dimension in jewellery design known as Die Bewegung or "The Movement". In 1997 the London Royal College of Art awarded him the title of honorary doctor.

Bibliography:

Hildegard Becker (Hg.): Friedrich Becker, Schmuck. Kinetik. Objekte, Stuttgart: Arnoldsche 1997.