ALAIN ROGGEMAN
ALAIN ROGGEMAN OVERVIEW
A retrospective exhibition of an artist-goldsmith, lecturer at the Institut Jeanne Toussaint - Parure & Bijouterie from Brussels (Belgium).
Most of the time his work is composed of two materials. One is silver or gold, the other is a recovered, recycled or found material - pieces of wood, construction toys, ancient toys, synthetic material, fabric etc. Sometimes stones are included into his jewellery pieces and he has a great interest in amber. The main themes for his inspiration are nature, urban landscapes, architecture, industrial design and music. His work is characterized by geometric shapes and figures, dots, lines and minimalist shapes.
Born in Africa in 1960 at a few degrees south of the equator, Roggeman passed his young years in this continent and his work is still widely inspired by all these luxuriant landscapes, colourful skies, fragrant vegetation, wonderful sounds of nature and the human being beat.
He arrived in Europe in 1973 with some short stays in Central and North Africa till approximately 1983.
Having settled down in Brussels, he started discovering the occidental way of living. He remembers hanging around like every youngster, listening to rock & roll, blues, world music, travelling around, having fun and figuring out what to do for the future.
In the end he figured out to go to the Jewellery School in Brussels, which he attended (with some breaks) between 1977 and 1985.
After several years as a student and working in different workshops as a silversmith and jeweller, his apprenticeship was done essentially in the classical jewellery, working with gold and diamonds. Roggeman stopped making classical jewellery four years ago.
In 1991-92 he started to teach at the school where he had studied before. The Institut de la Parure Jeanne Toussaint in Brussels is more than hundred years old and it is a place where it is possible to learn the different techniques of jewellery performed in accordance with the state of art.
Today, teaching and creating contemporary jewellery are filling his professional time. In 2017 Alain Roggeman founded his own company.