Kobi Bosshard

{{short description|Swiss-born New Zealand jeweller|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2015}} {{Infobox artist | name = Kobi Bosshard | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Kobi Bosshard | birth_date = 1939 | birth_place = Uster, Switzerland | death_date = | death_place = | known_for = Jewellery, goldsmith, silversmith | training = | movement = | notable_works = | patrons = | awards = | elected = | website = }}

'''Kobi Bosshard''' (born 1939 in Uster, Switzerland) is a Swiss-born New Zealand jeweller.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Blumhardt|first1=Doreen|last2=Brake|first2=Brian|title=Craft New Zealand: The art of the craftsman|date=1981|publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed|location=Auckland|isbn=0-589-01343-2|page=280|url=http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=467995|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20141130205447/http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=467995|archivedate=30 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/life/life-in-nz/what-filmmaker-andrea-bosshard-learned-from-her-goldsmith-father-kobi/|title=What filmmaker Andrea Bosshard learned from her goldsmith father Kobi|last=Noted|website=Noted|language=en|access-date=2019-06-19|archive-date=17 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717193823/https://www.noted.co.nz/life/life-in-nz/what-filmmaker-andrea-bosshard-learned-from-her-goldsmith-father-kobi/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bosshard was one of a number of European-trained jewellers who came to New Zealand in the 1960s and transformed contemporary jewellery in the country; others include Jens Hoyer Hansen, Tanya Ashken and Gunter Taemmler.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Skinner|first1=Damian|title=Kobi Bosshard: goldsmith|date=2012|publisher=David Bateman|location=Albany, Auckland|isbn=978-1869538217|page=9}}</ref>

==Training in Switzerland==

Bosshard undertook a five-year apprenticeship in Zurich with jewellery designer and craftsman Meinrad Burch-Korrodi, and studied at the Zurich School of Applied Arts.<ref name='Place'>{{cite book|last1=Skinner|first1=Damian|last2=Murray|first2=Kevin|title=Place and Adornment: A history of contemporary jewellery in Australia and New Zealand|date=2014|publisher=University of Hawai'i|location=Honolulu|isbn=9781454702771}}</ref>{{rp|56}}

==Career in New Zealand==

Bosshard moved to New Zealand in 1961.<ref name ='Cape'>{{cite book|last1=Cape|first1=Peter|title=Artists and Craftsmen in New Zealand|date=1969|publisher=Collins|location=Auckland, London|url=http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=82048.|archive-date=10 October 2020|access-date=2 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010145402/http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=82048.|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Rp|135–139}} He worked briefly in a Wellington jewellery shop owned by a fellow Swiss jeweller after arriving in New Zealand, but found the work being done in the shop conservative and left after a brief time.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://urbismagazine.com/articles/kobi-bosshard/|title = Kobi Bosshard|date = 4 October 2012|accessdate = 4 December 2014|website = Urbis|publisher = AGM Media|last = Stock|first = Nicole}}</ref> He became a mountain guide, then returned to full-time jewellery making in 1966.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/45323/jeweller-kobi-bosshard-1982|title = Crafts and applied arts – Ceramics, glass, jewellery and textiles, 1980s|date = 10 October 2014|accessdate = 4 December 2014|website = Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand|publisher = Ministry for Culture and Heritage|last = Lloyd Jenkins|first = Douglas}}</ref>

Art historian Peter Cape wrote in a 1969 survey of craft in New Zealand:

<blockquote>Kobi Bosshard has exhibited in a number of exhibition throughout New Zealand, and sells his work regularly through craft and jewellers' shops. He feels that, as a craft jeweller, he has considerable advantage over commercial jewellers, in that he is independent, and can design and work where and when he pleases, developing and following out his own idea, without the pressures of a mass market.<ref name="Cape" />{{Rp|135}}</blockquote>

In 1970 Bosshard's work was included in ''Silver, Gold, Greenstone'' at New Vision Gallery in Auckland, the first substantial exhibition of contemporary jewellery in New Zealand.<ref name='Place'/>{{rp|67}} In 1972 he was included in ''Craft 72,'' an exhibition of New Zealand potters, weavers, wood-turners and jewellers organised by the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council and toured overseas through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<ref name="Place" />{{rp|66}}

In a 1985 interview Bosshard described his preference for using a limited number of machines in his jewellery making and avoiding pre-cut metals: 'If you buy pieces of silver cut to standard thicknesses, you are tempted to stay with those measurements. It's better to have fewer skills and be master of those than to have many techniques and end up working to formula'.<ref name='Moseth'>{{cite journal|last1=Martha|first1=Moseth|title=Fluxus, Dunedin|journal=Craft New Zealand|date=Winter 1985|volume=14|pages=14–15}}</ref>{{Rp|15}} In the same interview he said:

<blockquote>I have to make a piece of jewellery before I know what it looks like. My hands and material know what they are doing: the jewellery has to feel right or it's not successful. I try not to let my mind get in the way. I don't want to end up thinking I am smart and clever and using tricks.<ref name='Moseth'/>{{Rp|15}}</blockquote>

In 1985–86 a retrospective exhibition of Bosshard's work was organised by the Manawatu Art Gallery and toured to the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Sarjeant Art Gallery and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.<ref name ='Standring'>{{cite journal|last1=Standring|first1=Douglas|title=Stillness, Space, Motion|journal=Crafts New Zealand|date=Autumn 1986|volume=16|pages=28–29}}</ref> Reviewing the exhibition Douglas Standring wrote 'Kobi Bosshard has long been regarded as one of our best jewellery-makers, but this exhibition at the Manawatu Art Gallery confirms his position amongst the still small group of local craftsmen and women who are making more than craft'.<ref name ='Standring'/>{{Rp|28}} Standring went on to describe the formal qualities of Bosshard's work ('each piece of jewellery is a highly focused design and this accounts for the austere, classical strain in his work') and note a new boldness in recent work:

<blockquote>A new set of brooches particularly display a bolder stroke — making, mixing an urban visual zap with Bosshard's habitual coolness. The key piece here is an experiment with free form and a larger scale: a lineal strip of silver is bent into a striking electric signature. The usual conventions of jewellery (solidity, the concealment of clasps and pins, the focus on the materials) are inverted: space becomes the dominant feature, and the lines which define themselves in that space. Thus the brooch pin is liberated from its usual role as practical appendage and becomes simply another line in space; an integral part of the design.<ref name ='Standring'/>{{Rp|29}}</blockquote>

==As a teacher==

Bosshard has also played an important role as a teacher of younger jewellers, including Peter McKay, Vicki Mason and Lisa Walker.<ref name ='Place'/>{{rp|60,173,180,228}} Vicki Mason says:

<blockquote>My love of metal came from him and Fluxus as at art school I’d majored in 'hard media' (stone, wood, bone, glass, plastic etc) as opposed to metal. This is a love affair that I can’t let go of. He imbued me with a sense of the history of working with metal.<ref name="Place" />{{rp|228}}</blockquote>

==Fluxus==

In September 1983 Bosshard established Fluxus Contemporary Jewellery, a jewellery workshop and gallery, with Stephen Mulqueen in Dunedin; they were shortly joined by jeweller Georg Beer.<ref name ='Place'/>{{rp|146}}<ref name='Schamroth'>{{cite book|last1=Schamroth|first1=Helen|author-link=Helen Schamroth|title=100 New Zealand Craft Artists|date=1998|publisher=Godwit Press|location=Auckland|isbn=1869620364}}</ref> Martha Moseth, writing in ''Craft New Zealand'' in 1985, stated

<blockquote>When goldsmiths Kobi Bosshard and Stephen Mulqueen opened Fluxus in September 1983 they were prepared for a few risks including a slow start and indeterminate debt. They have been surprised at the Gallery's success. On a 'bad' afternoon there are at least five potential customers and on a good day, thirty to forty. In its first eight months the Gallery has totalled over 200 sales and the future looks good.<ref name='Moseth'/>{{Rp|14}}</blockquote>

The launch of Fluxus was motivated by 'frustration with limited access to customers and a faith in the future of contemporary jewellery'.<ref name='Moseth'/>{{Rp|15}} The name 'Fluxus' was chosen 'for two reasons: for its reference to the 'flowing' agent, like Borax, that goldsmiths use and for the idea of flux, or change, which is part of the Gallery's philosophy of adapting to the needs of the artists and the community'.<ref name='Moseth'/>{{Rp|15}} The gallery was modelled on Auckland's Fingers, functioning as a cooperative. In addition to the jewellers selling their own work a production line of jewellery was made and sold under the Fluxus name.<ref name ='Place'/>{{rp|146}}

==Curatorial roles==

Bosshard was a member of the selection panel for the influential 1988 Bone Stone Shell exhibition of contemporary New Zealand jewellery.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Skinner |first1=Damian |title=No false foreign paradise |url= http://arts.tepapa.govt.nz/off-the-wall/5812/no-false-foreign-paradise |website=Arts Te Papa |accessdate=8 December 2014 |date=October 2013}}</ref> In 1996 he curated the second New Zealand Jewellery Biennial, titled ''Same But Different'', at The Dowse Art Museum.<ref name ='Place'/>{{Rp|154}} The exhibition had two key themes: 'that contemporary jewellery should remember the needs of the wearer; and that production jewellery was an honourable and important part of contemporary jewellery'.<ref name ='Place'/>{{Rp|154}}

==Recognitions==

In 2012 Bosshard was recognised as a Master of Craft by Objectspace, an honour accompanied by a major touring retrospective exhibition and publication.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.objectspace.org.nz/Exhibitions/Detail/Kobi+Bosshard:+Objectspace+Masters+of+Craft|title = Kobi Bosshard: Objectspace Masters of Craft|date = 2012|accessdate = 4 December 2014|website = Objectspace}}{{Dead link|date=March 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>

==2017 documentary 'Kobi'==

A documentary about Bosshard's life and work, 'Kobi', will premiere at the 2017 New Zealand International Film Festival in July 2017.<ref name="Kobi">{{cite web|title=Kobi|url=https://www.nziff.co.nz/2017/auckland/kobi/|website=NZIFF|accessdate=28 July 2017}}</ref> The film is produced by Torchlight Films and directed by Bosshard's daughter, film maker Andrea Bosshard.<ref name="Kobi"/><ref name=":0" />

==Collections==

Bosshard's work is held in the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and The Dowse Art Museum.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kobi Bosshard|url=http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/kobi-bosshard|website=The Dowse Art Museum|accessdate=2 December 2014}}{{Dead link|date=March 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Object: Jewellery set/earring|url=http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/636670|website=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|accessdate=2 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Collections Online - Made by: Kobi Bosshard|url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections-online/search?entm=http%3a%2f%2fapi.aucklandmuseum.com%2fid%2fperson%2f2329|website=Auckland War Memorial Museum|accessdate=21 January 2022}}</ref>

==Further reading== *[http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201848730/kobi-bosshard-i-am-a-craftsman-not-an-artist Interview with Kobi Bosshard], Saturdays Mornings with Kim Hill, Radio New Zealand, 24 June 2017 * [https://vimeo.com/139673471 Goldsmith Kobi Bosshard in his workshop], video interview, 2015 * The Dowse Art Museum; Eléna Gee, [http://repository.digitalnz.org/system/uploads/record/attachment/725/open_heart__contemporary_new_zealand_jewellery.pdf 'Open Heart: Contemporary New Zealand Jewellery'], November 1993 * The Dowse Art Museum; Kobi Bosshard, [http://repository.digitalnz.org/system/uploads/record/attachment/753/the_second_new_zealand_jewellery_biennial.pdf The Second New Zealand Jewellery Biennial: Same But Different], 1996 * Graham Price, [http://repository.digitalnz.org/system/uploads/record/attachment/737/_kobi_bosshard___new_zealand_crafts_35__autumn_1991.pdf Kobi Bosshard], ''New Zealand Crafts'' 35, Autumn 1991 * Douglas Standring, [http://repository.digitalnz.org/system/uploads/record/attachment/738/_kobi_bosshard__stillness__space__motion___new_zealand_crafts_16__autumn_1986.pdf Kobi Bosshard: Stillness, Space, Motion], ''New Zealand Crafts'' 16, Autumn 1986 * [http://repository.digitalnz.org/system/uploads/record/attachment/731/_fluxus_dunedin___new_zealand_crafts_14__winter_1985.pdf Fluxus Dunedin], ''New Zealand Crafts'' 14, Winter 1985 * [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Person/11975 Kobi Bosshard] Works in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosshard, Kobi}} Category:1939 births Category:New Zealand jewellers Category:Living people Category:Swiss emigrants to New Zealand Category:People from Uster Category:Businesspeople from Dunedin