Thomas mann jewelry biography
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Thomas Mann: still a Techno-Romantic at heart
Thomas Mann made his reputation in the early ‘70s as a pioneer of the art jewelry movement. He grew up in western Pennsylvania and began making jewelry to pay for college, where he studied theatre set design. Inspired by Joseph Cornell’s boxes and the German goldsmith Herman Junger, Mann began applying the assemblage techniques of the Dada, Surrealist and Cubist movements to jewelry.
Caught up in the rebellious idealism of the era, he declared precious materials off-limits and experimented instead with alternative metals like brass, nickel and bronze, which he chased with whimsical patterns and combined with resin, acrylic, photographs and found objects—especially tiny machine parts from Cape Canaveral.
When Mann’s jewelry started gaining popularity in the late ‘70s, he made what he calls “a conscious decision to stay away from gold or precious gems. I approached it with a sort of socialist attitude: making the jewelry available to
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Thomas Mann (artist)
Thomas Robert Mann (born 1947) is an American jewelry artist known primarily for his metalsmithing and assemblage techniques.[1] Combining industrial-style metals with found trinkets and baubles, Mann has dubbed his style "Techno-Romantic" and runs Studio I/O in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he now lives and works.[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Mann was born in Northampton, Pennsylvania and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania.[1] His father was a machinist for Bethlehem Steel, an influence to which Mann credits his "fondness for machinery."[3] While in high school, Mann experimented with jewelry-making and worked at a silversmith shop in Allentown.[2] The jewelry he sold during his teen years helped fund his education at East Stroudsburg University, where he earned a grad in performing arts in 1970.[2] In 1977, Mann began exhibiting at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and later