Karl Mazlo

Memory, texture and transformation are central to the work of Karl Mazlo, a contemporary jewellery artist who trained at École Boulle in Paris.

He employs artisanal techniques and, pursuing his objective to make jewellery more sustainable, favours reclaimed materials such as steel, architectural fragments and rough stones, to show the unique nature of each piece and reveal the beauty of what others might cast aside.

Working from his studio in Paris, which he opened in 2019, Karl Mazlo creates commissioned pieces and limited series. His hybrid practice, which mixes the techniques of jewellery-making with those of other crafts, has brought him to the attention of storied French houses for collaborations. He has received several prestigious awards, including the Prix Liliane Bettencourt pour l’Intelligence de la Main®.

Karl Mazlo sets out to restore a profound meaning to jewellery, instilled with lived experience, and to reinvent traditional techniques to craft pieces that encourage us to reconsider what “precious” is and what function jewellery fulfils.

During his residency at Villa Kujoyama, Karl Mazlo explores fire as material, inspiration and universal language. Hi no michi – the way of fire considers an energy that joins and protects.

While in Kyoto, he will immerse himself in traditional Japanese practices such as raku as well as preparations for celebrations, considered in the light of his own fusion of materials.

The project builds on observations, experimentation and encounters with local artisans who work with fire, to inform a contemporary reflection on the transformation and memory of materials.

Ten years after a foundational experience at Villa Kujoyama, this residency marks Karl Mazlo’s return to Kyoto. It is a reconnection with an ancestral fire that does not destroy but rather reveals; fire that courses through the artisan’s hand and materials to brings out the essential or the unexpected.

His project at the Villa Kujoyama in 2016, entitled Réflexions autour des Haïkus, sought to bring together his expertise as a jeweler with Japanese craftsmanship.
In order to initiate collaborations, Karl Mazlo met and interviewed artisans during his stay in Kyoto, collecting and translating the expressive qualities of this poetic form into objects.
The starting point for this dialogue lay in the tools that Karl Mazlo had previously forged himself in Paris, specifically so that the foundation of this first exchange could be shaped by their respective materials and sensibilities.
Used like stamps, these tools were meant to leave an imprint on wood, metal, raw clay, or even paper.

The pieces created during his residency were later exhibited in numerous venues across Japan, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, the Goto Islands Memorial, the Nuit Blanche Kyoto, the @kcua gallery, the Takashimaya department store, and Seikado.
In 2018, he was awarded the Takumi craftsmanship fellowship, a joint program between the cities of Kyoto and Paris, and collaborated with the Nomura Sagarden workshop, renowned for its mastery of urushi lacquer and mother-of-pearl. He also completed a residency at Ateliers de Paris, where he continued the research initiated in Kyoto, as well as his collaboration with the Seikado House.

In Paris, his creations have been presented at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in 2018, at the Révélations Biennale at the Grand Palais in 2019, and at the Maison & Objets trade fair.
Following the trajectory of his residency and travels, Karl Mazlo’s practice continues to evolve through exchanges and dialogues between art and craftsmanship from different cultural contexts, allowing his work to develop in a contemporary manner and to open toward new territories of creation.

Le mardi 5 octobre 2021, la Fondation Bettencourt Schueller a dévoilé le palmarès de la 21e édition du Prix Liliane Bettencourt pour l’intelligence de la main®. La distinction pour la catégorie Talents d’exception a été attribuée à Karl Mazlo, lauréat 2016 en métiers d’art, pour son oeuvre Black Garden.

Un bijou-support pensé comme un oeuvre à part entière grâce à un processus de création inédit mêlant or, argent, acier damassé, encre et feuilles de thé par l’expérimentation des techniques traditionnelles de la joaillerie couplée à la culture japonaise.

“Avec Black Garden, j’ai tenté de questionner à nouveau le statut du bijou lorsqu’il n’est pas porté, en sortant l’écrin de son contexte pour en faire un élément à part entière de l’œuvre. Le socle est ici pensé comme un dispositif de mise en scène destiné à offrir une expérience sensorielle, ainsi que la contemplation d’un paysage. Au-delà de ce travail, ma démarche est d’amener le bijou ailleurs ; de déplacer la joaillerie de l’univers du luxe pour l’emmener vers l’art en rappelant sa fonction première ; une valeur de protection et de souvenir. Renoncer à porter un bijou revient à lui donner une autre place dans son univers…” (Karl Mazlo)