About us – how we see ourselves
We make jewellery, not just because we can, but because we view it as our calling. We create jewellery with very special characteristics: above all, these are techniques that cannot be learned in a vocational school – but only from our master craftsmen and women. Without these skills we would not be in a position to create our distinctive jewellery in its unique form. We regard the most important task of VICTOR MAYER to be keeping our craftsmanship alive and conveying its inherent magic.
We – the employees and the proprietor family – share the same passion: we make jewellery for connoisseurs, for individualists, for cultured people. We take an interest in the beauty and the wonder of this world. Like the people of the Renaissance, we are more generalists than specialists. Would you like to understand how to accurately assess our work? Then we invite you to get to know us better. Read about what influences us and inspires us.
Tradition – legacy, inspiration and experience
“Only those familiar with the past have a future” (Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767 – 1835)). History and stories recount where we come from and what has moulded us. This explains what we do and how we do it. The members of the owner family and many employees have left their mark on the company with their unique biographies. Conversely, the fortunes of the manufacture have also formed the personalities of its stakeholders, helping to make us what we are today.
Design – our notion of creativity
Design is our central challenge. And yet is only of significance to us in our typical realisation. The superficial impression is not the criterion of quality. A copy can achieve this. We develop designs that convey meaning and significance. It is especially important for us that the manufacturing process and with it the realisation of the creative idea are authentic and original. It is the privilege of an owner-managed company that short-term commercial success does not always need to be paramount. This liberates us from trends and creates space for experiments both large and small.
Manufacture – a rare cultural treasure
The 1970s saw jewellery manufacturers also confronted with the increasing pressure to relocate to low wage countries. For Victor Mayer, this led to a return to the skills and expertise that had distinguished the company since the time of its founding. The so-called manufacture production of jewellery in small series had made Victor Mayer successful. As a consequence, we remain committed to the craftsmanship tradition of our hometown – the Golden City of Pforzheim. We are proud to have been able to preserve this – already centuries-old – knowledge for the future with our work.
Philosophy – our responsibility and mindset
Naturally, it is not only the manufacture that has a philosophy, but also its actors. The ethos of craftsmanship is accompanied by the desire to strive for quality. It is therefore both satisfying and inspiring for us to create pieces that can outlive us. With this, we address the question of what quality and beauty actually mean. Jewellery is luxury. Luxury, as we understand it, requires an attitude that lends the item of jewellery a justification that extends beyond its purely material value. And this represents a challenge to the aficionado, the collector, the jewellery connoisseur.
Made in Germany – our concept of this
Have you ever asked yourself what Made in Germany actually means? The term itself is legally protected. However, so vaguely, that there is ample room for interpretation. We – the members of the trade association Bundesverband für Schmuck und Uhren – have taken the initiative in defining the meaning very clearly and succinctly and committing ourselves to observe high standards regarding this. We wish to distance ourselves from: the practice of importing prefabricated products and applying a final, insignificant work process to these to justify the Made in Germany label. Consequently, we guarantee that at least 70% of the work undertaken – in our case typically 100% – actually occurred in Germany.