A FORMER BRONZE FOUNDRY IN MUNICH

Werkstatt München was founded in 1996 by Klaus Lohmeyer, a master gold- and silversmith who has also designed jewellery for Ann Demeulemeester. Before training at the state school for glass and jewellery in Kaufbeuren, he studied philosophy, politics and music, and that mix of craft and ideas still defines the brand.

The atelier sits in a courtyard in Munich's Glockenbachviertel, in a former bronze foundry largely kept in its original state. Around fifteen artists, designers and craftspeople work there, and almost everything, down to the clasps, fasteners and buttons, is made in-house.

COMFORT, CONTRAST, IMPERFECTION, INDEPENDENCE

The workshop's motto is simple: beauty needs good energy to grow. Four principles guide the work:

• comfort
• contrast, between light and shadow
• imperfection: surfaces hammered and filed by hand rather than machined
• independence: closures, and sometimes even tools, invented in-house

Measuring tools are only used where they are truly needed, such as for ring sizes. The rest is shaped by hand and eye.

SILVER THAT CHANGES WITH YOU

Werkstatt München works in 925 silver that is left unplated and untreated, then oxidised. With wear, the raised surfaces brighten while the recesses stay dark, so each piece slowly takes on the habits of its owner. Metals are recycled, and no plating or chemical coatings are used.

Surface is where the brand's character shows most: traces left by antique blacksmiths' tools, hammered finishes, and Lyric Traces, fragments of song lyrics embossed so they can only partly be read.

SYMBOLS AND STORIES

Motifs recur across the collections, each with its own meaning: the Unite cross, skulls, Bird Flight, Faith Love Hope and Embrace among them. Some draw on art and design history, from the Bauhaus to Christo, while music subcultures, philosophy and art run through the whole archive.

Leather goods follow the same thinking. Belts are cut from vegetable-tanned Bavarian leather and sewn by hand with two needles.

WERKSTATT MÜNCHEN AT ORIMONO

Orimono has carried Werkstatt München since 2023. Our selection includes:

• rings, from the multi-skull ring to layered chains and curb links
• flat long-link, double chain and folded-closure bracelets
• the Faith Love Hope choker and Unity medallion necklace
• skull safety pins and hammered badge brooches
• the Werkstatt München book
• pieces that sit alongside Certain Pace, GOTI and Enri Mars

Read more about Berlin silverwork in Certain Pace, or explore Werkstatt München at Orimono.