Künstliche Perlen

Perlen. What a beautiful word. Synonymous with pearls, Perlen means beads in German. I love how elegant it sounds; to describe all beads as pearls! And art beads I believe would be Kunst Perlen. As a classical singer, I often sing in languages foreign to me, and I find German my favourite language to sing in - above and beyond even English. I speak a little, am certainly not fluent, but I find the vowels and consonants - the music of the language - very beautiful and expressive, especially in song. I have only visited Germany once properly and I would love to return there someday.

I have found a selection of beautiful beads from German bead artists and I thought I'd share them here in this treasury.

'German Art Beads' by songbead

A selection of finds from bead artists based in Germany.

RED SUCKEROO - Lampwork Bead... petrajanssen $17.00	8 Fimo polymer clay beads. F... LyamayevaCraft $13.00	8 bigger Spacer Beads - Hand... GardenOfBeads $7.84	Glass Lampwork Round Bead Se... beadles $37.50
Melanie Moertel Lampwork Bea... melaniemoertel $95.00	MICHOU - Lampwork Beads - Kn... MichouJewelry $149.00	AV-Beads handmade Lampwork S... AVBeads $65.90	5 Gold Leaves Head Pins Set,... Beadfairy $8.00
14 handmade lampwork beads GardenOfBeads $21.00	17 handmade lampwork beads -... calypsosbeads $155.00	lampwork, handmade - faux b... calisto $35.00	AV-Beads handmade Lampwork F... AVBeads $17.95
lampwork, handmade - ROT-ME... calisto $24.00	GlassBonBon Colorstorm Heart... Glassbonbon $72.00	9ps Handmade Beads from poly... LyamayevaCraft $16.00	Melanie Moertel Lampwork Bea... melaniemoertel $140.00

Treasury tool supported by three quick questions

One thing that emerged whilst I was browsing through etsy's pages of German bead artists, was that there seems to be a definite German style of lampworking - fine stringer work, often in black, with vivid and joyful colour schemes. I have included some contrasting work here (including some lovely polymer work) but can you see it too? It reminded me somewhat of the Austrian artist Hundertwasser. Do take a peek here at his colourful and inspiring work! Hundertwasser is one of my very favourite artitists; his use of shape, colour and texture I find terribly inspiring. 

Do you live in Germany? Do you make art beads? Do leave a comment! We love to hear about bead artists living all over the world!

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer and singer, currently living in Manchester, England. You can read more about beads and singing at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com.