Patina Gallery Presents

Patina Gallery welcomes
Peter Schmid of Atelier Zobel.

With a new collection inspired by the beauty, craftsmanship, and philosophical traditions of Japan.

The Pursuit of Pleasure and the Floating World draws its spirit from the Edo period, an era of flourishing art, fashion, theater, poetry, and pleasure. Within this richly layered culture, the “floating world” offered an invitation to embrace life’s fleeting experiences, a request to notice beauty as it appears in this moment with the understanding that it cannot remain unchanged.

For Schmid, Japanese philosophy offers not a new direction, but a language for values already central to his work: devotion to craft, continual refinement, reverence for materials, and an understanding that imperfection often makes beauty memorable.

Precious metals, gemstones, petrified coral, and Japanese silk cords form a layered visual language throughout the collection. Shapes suggest silk ribbons moving in the wind, the geometry of a folding fan, the surfaces of woodblock prints, and the strength and ceremony of samurai traditions. Patterns inspired by historic kimono textiles are translated into sculptural forms, while luminous stones carry their own natural histories.

Nature is present, though rarely
as a literal image.

Instead, it appears through rhythm, growth, weathering, cellular structures, and the quiet architecture found within crystal and stone. Schmid is drawn to materials marked by inclusions, irregular color, and evidence of their formation. These natural disturbances are not concealed; they become the source of each piece’s character.

For Schmid, beauty requires something unexpected.

A slight disruption that holds the eye and invites a second look. An asymmetry, inclusion, or unfamiliar gesture creates intrigue and encourages a deeper relationship with the work.

Like the Japanese principle of wabi-sabi, which recognizes beauty in age, change, and impermanence, Schmid’s jewelry is made to evolve. Silver brightens where it is touched. Recessed textures deepen. Surfaces record the life of the wearer.

The work is not truly complete when it leaves the studio.

It becomes complete on the body through connection, movement, and time.

Watch the Mindful Meditation with Peter Schmid of Atelier Zobel to accompany the exhibition.

View all Mindful Meditations

Throughout our 25-year story of extraordinary jewels, groundbreaking ingenuity surfaces in the evolving friendship and collaboration from years gone by and in those to come.

For more information on the work, please email: allison@patina-gallery.com

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MAIN IMAGE: Ailyn Pérez, Soprano. PHOTO: Peter Ogilvie. JEWELRY: Peter schmid of Atelier Zobel. .