Bernd Munsteiner, Dead at 81: March 2, 1943 – June 6, 2024
Gary Roskin
Roskin Gem News Report
Tragedy and sadness has once again befallen on the house of Munsteiner as their patriarch Bernd has passed.
Bernd Munsteiner, the father of the “Fantasy Cut,” died on Thursday, June 6th, surrounded by his family, his wife Hanne, daughter-in-law Jutta, and grandson, Philipp, in Stipshausen, Germany. He was 81 years old.
At first, his countrymen shunned the design. But this did not deter Munsteiner from looking to the rest of the world, where open minds could appreciate his gem art. And the rest, as they say, is history.
There have been multitudes of awards (see below), museum exhibitions and installations, several books, and hundreds of trade news articles written about him, his art, and the family members who were destined to carry on the new gem cutting tradition.
Family
“Bernd was a real family man,” says Jutta Munsteiner, Bernd’s daughter-in-law, wife to Tom Munsteiner (decd. December 28, 2023), mother to Philipp. Bernd loved his family and spent as much time with them as he could, when he was not cutting his next masterpiece, of course. “And he had so many close friends in the village.” Munsteiner grew up near the historic German gem cutting center of Idar-Oberstein, born in Mörschied, about 15 miles north of Idar. Travel just another 15 miles north from there, and you land in the village of Stipshausen, where the family home and workshop is located. Known for his large smile and his outward affection, it was not uncommon for Bernd to joyfully greet a friend or important client. “All the people that have come by to pay their respects, tell us, ‘Bernd would pick me up, giving me a big ‘Bear hug.’ It’s very funny, actually,” says Jutta. “In fact, yesterday, we had a Japanese client at the shop who told us, ‘I will miss the big hug!’”
Bernd, like so many of the gem cutters of the area, learned his craft of cutting through his father, Viktor. While he did not follow directly in his father’s footsteps, he understood the importance of learning the basics of gem cutting.
“When Tom and Philipp started out, they learned the traditional style of cutting from Bernd,” noted Jutta. “Bernd would tell them that once you learn how to do traditional cutting, only then can you do everything else.”
Tom followed in Bernd’s footsteps, first learning the craft of gem cutting, and then heading off to art school, learning design. Philipp has learned his craft from both father and grandfather.
“Bernd spent a lot of time with Philipp, showing him new works, and teaching him how to study the gem material. He would say to him, ‘when you truly open your eyes, you will then see a lot more. And that’s when you have the chance, the opportunity to do what you like in stone.’”
Bernd was always looking at nature, recognizing how incredible and beautiful it can be. “Bernd would bring back something he found from every walk,” recalled Jutta, “and that would inspire new gemstone designs. ‘Going through life with eyes wide open’ was his motto.”
Art School
Hans-Jürgen Henn, who just celebrated his 83rd birthday, was a very close friend and business partner of Bernd Munsteiner… “for well-over 50 years,” he proudly recalled. “We were born in the same area. We knew each other even when we were young boys. We all learned how to cut, of course, but then Bernd went off to art school. This is where he reached another level, higher than most of the other cutters here,” says Henn.
“Yes, it’s a funny thing,” recalls Jutta. “They really liked Bernd in Pforzheim because he was a cutter. They had students who were painters, ceramists, and goldsmiths, but no cutters.”
Cutters are so traditional. Therefore, Bernd gave his professors the opportunity to teach art and design to someone who had been trained to work methodically, staying within the rigid boundaries of angles for specific gem materials. His teachers wanted to open up Bernd’s way of thinking. They made it their goal to teach him how to take that same gem material and create art!
“And I think they did a pretty good job,” chuckles Jutta. “Bernd really thought about the angles, asking ‘must I do this?’, or ‘can I do that?’ And the professors would always remind him, saying, ‘normal cutting is 500 years old. You need to think about cutting design in our time, right now!’ He really learned how to ‘wake up’ his senses in school.”
And when Bernd returned home from Pforzheim, Henn could see that Munsteiner was about to create a new style of cutting. “He was a pioneer,” says Henn. “No doubt he had a talent given to him by nature. But very few people could appreciate it. I was one of his first ‘fans.’”
His wife Hanne, no doubt, was his first fan. Hanne and Bernd were married for close to 60 years. Together they forged a new way for gem cutting. And they were raising two sons, Jorg and Tom – the next generation.
“I liked his new style of cutting because I knew this was something different,” recalls Henn. “… something that had never been done in the history of gem cutting… for over thousands of years!”
He Never Gave Up
“Yes, in the beginning, Germany was really tough,” says Jutta. German cutters, goldsmiths, and retail jewelers were all very traditional. The value of a gem was only in the creation of traditional cutting styles. And so you didn’t look for its beauty elsewhere, especially not as abstract art.
“But Bernd really saw rough gem materials in its natural beauty,” says Jutta. “And if you make a composition of design along with nature, it’s the most beautiful thing you can do.”
Even though he was getting push back from his fellow Germans, this did not stop his passion for the art. Jutta tells us that Bernd travelled to countries such as Norway, and Finland, to the United States, and to Brazil, where he would find a lot of open-minded people that liked the new modern design of gem art.
Starting a New Business
Henn didn’t simply like and appreciate what Munsteiner was doing. He made it a part of his business. “I’ll never forget those days, traveling two times a year around the United States. I took his first samples with me.”
Henn recalls just how tough that was. Everyone was shocked when they saw Bernd’s way of cutting. But Henn was a trained master goldsmith. He was ready. “When people would say, ‘Well, what can we do with this? It’s so different.’” Henn would ask for a pencil and paper, and started making sketches. And that was all it took. “Sold,” exclaimed Henn.
As Henn recalls, he and Bernd partnered for almost ten years. Henn would buy rough, and Munsteiner would create gem art. “Sales were so good that we had to start a year-long waiting list.” Munsteiner was not only winning awards, his art was gaining in popularity.
“He was one of my best friends,” says Henn. “Bernd had such an impact on my business, and my private life. We enjoyed each other, our friends, and of course, our families.”
The Dom Pedro
The personal highlight of Munsteiner’s work was the Dom Pedro. This was a 60 pound [27 kilos] Brazilian aquamarine rough crystal that was purchased by a team of gem cutters that included Henn, Hermann Bank, and Munsteiner.*
When originally discovered sometime in the 1980s, the aquamarine crystal measured more than three feet long and reportedly weighed close to 100 pounds. Somewhere along the way, the crystal was accidentally broken into three parts, with the most important third being used to create the Dom Pedro.
But before the rough was even purchased, it had been decided by the team that Munsteiner should be the one to cut the magnificent crystal, and not have it sliced up and faceted into a multitude of traditionally cut gems. According to Jürgen, this went right along with Henn’s lifelong motto: “That which is rendered great by nature should not be diminished by man.” [Or as Dr. Jeffrey Post, recently retired curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gem and Mineral collection, would later paraphrase in his book, Unearthed, “What nature made large, man should not make small.”]
“Normally, when Bernd would buy rough material, he would simply cut it directly,” says Jutta. “But with the Dom Pedro, I think he took three months just looking at the rough material, thinking about it, and then thinking more about it, before starting to work.” He knew just how important this moment would be, a unique opportunity to create something truly great.
Now, in its finished form, it weighs 10,363 carats (approximately 4 and a half pounds), and measures roughly 14 inches tall.
Donated to the Smithsonian
A couple of gem enthusiasts from Palm Beach, Florida, Jane Mitchell and Jeffrey Bland, purchased and donated the Dom Pedro to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gem Collection. It was on Dec. 6, 2012, that the Dom Pedro went on permanent display. Munsteiner’s obelisk lights up the entrance to the national gem collection gallery, and all within 30 feet of the most famous gem in the world, the Hope Diamond. Munsteiner was so proud to see it being displayed for all to see.
When we spoke to Jeffrey Post just recently, he recalled receiving the donation and unveiling it to the public. “This was an extraordinary crystal,” says Post. “When you see it in person, it has this genius of cutting.”
“There was so much of his artistic life in that piece,” says Post. “The Dom Pedro defined Bernd Munsteiner, who he was as a gem artist.”
*[There are several full-length feature stories of the Dom Pedro, including ones in the Washington Post, Lapidary Journal, and Gems & Gemology. What we found heartwarming, especially for those who are passing their family businesses on to the next generation, was that in an effort to teach the children the importance of purchasing rough, the team of Henn, Bank, and Munsteiner sent their kids, Axel Henn, Chico Bank, and Tom Munsteiner, to Brazil to bring the world’s most important (and valuable) rough crystal of aquamarine back to Germany.]
Other Important Works – Rutilated Quartz
Of the thousands of pieces Bernd Munsteiner created during his lifetime, there are a few that deserve to be singled out.
Metamorphos I, and III, rutilated quartz.
One of the many Munsteiner large sculptures that are now in the Michael Scott Collection, is “Metamorphos,” (image above on the left) the world’s largest faceted and carved rutilated quartz. Noted by the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California, where the Scott Collection was on display, Metamorphos weighs in at 220 pounds (100 kilos, or approximately 500,000 carats). Scott was the first CEO of Apple, and has a real appreciation for Bernd Munsteiner’s work. It is said that Scott has the finest private collection of Munsteiner gem art in the United States.
Church Windows
Finally, and probably one his most cherished projects, are the Agate windows created with his son Tom, for their local church in Stipshausen. Two windows feature 10 panes of 1-inch by 1-inch squares and triangles of polished plates of patterned Agate. Taking over three years to complete, these windows stand approximately eight feet high and three feet wide. As you can see in the images here, the top two panes are curved at the top.
Sons Before Father
Jörg Munsteiner died in Lugano, Switzerland, on September 5, 2003, at the age of 37. Jörg, the eldest of two boys, was a jewelry designer/manufacturer who had just returned from vacationing in Egypt. Jörg was thought to have recovered from a recent virus when he fell ill one morning and died suddenly.
Tom Munsteiner, the younger son of Bernd and Hanne, an incredibly talented gem artist himself, was carrying on the family tradition, creating even more beautiful objets d’art and gem-set jewelry along with his wife Jutta and son Philipp. Many of Tom’s works have won awards, from the AGTA Spectrum and Cutting Edge Awards competition, the European Product Design Awards competition, The Gemmys, the Platinum Couture Design Awards, the German Jewellery and Precious Stone Design competition, and so many more. Tom unexpectedly passed away last year, just 6 months ago, on December 28th, 2023. He was only 54 years old.
Philipp and his mother, Jutta, proudly carry the important work forward with strength and remembrance of the character, ethics, charm, love and passion created by both Bernd and Tom.
”Bernd opened the door to the magical world of gemstones for me and Tom,” says Philipp. “He was the first to change the way gemstones were cut, and I am very proud of him. I am his biggest fan. With a lot of patience and love, he taught me how to cut at an early age. Bernd looked after me during every phase of my childhood and is therefore my childhood hero. He left a mark in my heart and will remain in my memory forever. I am very grateful that I was able to spend so much time with him.”
On a very personal note:
I have known the Munsteiner family for over two decades, Bernd, Hanne, Tom, Jutta, and Philipp, visiting with them at their home in Stipshausen, and at numerous trade shows over the years. They are such a wonderful family, always gracious, supportive, and kind …. all of which has made these past 6 months even more heartbreaking, with Tom’s sudden passing, and now Bernd’s passing. From my family to the Munsteiners, we extend our deepest sympathies and condolences. Our thoughts and prayers are with you always. – gr
Laid to Rest
Funeral services for Bernd Munsteiner were held (today) on Saturday, June 22nd at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family would like you to consider donations in Bernd’s name to the Jakob Bengel Stiftung (The Jakob Bengel Foundation)
Kreissparkasse Birkenfeld
IBAN: DE 11 5625 0030 0000 0728 50
Stichwort: Bernd Munsteiner
Biography of BERND MUNSTEINER
1973 Atelier in Stipshausen near Idar-Oberstein.
1966-pres. Self employed working from private workshop; designing precious stones and jewelry.
1966 Completed state examination with title as designer of precious stones and jewelry.
1962-1966 Studied with Prof. Schollmayer and Prof. Ullrich at the school for design, Phorzheim.
1957-1960 Educated as precious stone cutter with Viktor Munsteiner, completed journeyman exam.
1943 Born in Mörschied near Idar-Oberstein.
Member of various national German trade and visual art organizations, concerned with the advancement, promotion and support of contemporary art, material and form.
Member of “The Guild of Contemporary American Jewelry Design”
Member of “International Jewelry Design Guild Inc.”
Honors and Awards
2018 Kunst-Ehrenpreis Rhineland-Palatinate
2017 JORGC Award 2017
2014 Golden A’Design Award In Jewelry, Eyewear and Watch Design
2001 Design Award Rhineland-Palatinate
1999 Contemporary Design Group, Award, Hall of Fame, Las Vegas USA
1997 “Context-Cut” Honorary for greatest Design quality, Design Center, Nordrhine Westphalia
1996 Honorary Life Member, The American Gem Trade Association
1992 First prize, Prix Arctica, KL-mi Art Museum, Finland.
1989 Third prize in The German Jewelry and Precious stone design competition, Idar-Oberstein.
1987 First prize in the German Jewelry and Precious stone design competition, Idar-Oberstein.
1984 First and Second prize in the German Jewelry and Precious stone design competition, Idar-Oberstein.
1983 Honorary membership granted by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, London.
1981 Gold and Bronze Medals, Zlatarska Razstave Celjy, Yugoslavia.
1981 First prize in the “Architecture and Small Sculpture” artist competition.
1981 Third prize in the German Jewelry and Precious stone design competition, Idar-Oberstein.
1980 State prize and Honorable Mention.
1976 Honorable Mention in the German Jewelry and Precious stone design competition, Idar-Oberstein.
1974 State prize Rhineland-Palatinate.
1974 Prize given for outstanding German craftsmanship.
1972 Fourth prize and Honorable Mention in the German Jewelry and Precious stone design competition, Idar-Oberstein.
1970 Honorable Mention in the German Jewelry and Precious stone design competition, Idar-Oberstein.
1969 Gold Medal, Craft Fair in Munich.
1968 First prize in the promotional competition, sponsored by Rhineland-Palatinate.
Special thanks to Shelly Sergent, and Axel Henn for their assistance in the content of this remembrance.
