Meet the Maker:Master jewel setter Wilhelm Kling

If Wilhelm Kling If he wants to check whether the gem he has just set has found its place in the piece of jewellery, he holds it up to the light and squints. If the trapezoidal plateau of the diamond reflects the light evenly, it has worked properly. He nods. Craftsmanship, he says, when you are amazed at how precisely he has worked.t.

Because Kling is a craftsman through and through. Just like his father was. also one ring, also a master jewel setter. The hard work runs in the family. You should have a few prerequisites if you want to get into the trade, he says. A steady hand and some skill are probably an advantage. But as Kling puts it, the dazzling craft with the sparkling stones is one that leaves no room for vanity. What does not come into play in his description is how detailed and intricate the work with diamonds is, a real art in itself. Just having the patience to find a suitable place for the stone in the piece of jewelery so much can be said: this work requires much more than just a little skill and a steady hand..

Kling works in the home office. He has his workshop in the basement of his family home. His two dogs drag themselves wearily across the room and, stretched out on all fours, drop to the floor. There are four workstations down here. Each equipped with a microscope and various drills, hammers and pliers, Kling lovingly presents his instruments, each rare pieces, state of the art, with which he works true miracles. Also at each station: a leather cloth to collect the rubbish. Because everything that is left over here can and will be recycled..

And cautiously, as if a patient were lying in front of him, Kling went to work. He looks through the lens of the microscope. His concentration fills the room. For a moment it even seems as if the rock music on the radio is slowing down, becoming quieter. Because very carefully „Brilli Willi“, as he calls himself on the internet, running a ReMind Mini Solitaire Ring through his fingers.

There is still no stone on itengagement ring. But that is about to change. Kling laughs when he explains his tools the way professionals laugh when they have to simplify their art for laypeople. You can think of it like a tiny circular saw, he says, and cuts a small groove in the claw. A groove is a notch into which the stone that Kling is holding must fit perfectly. A prong is the struts that grip the diamond like little fingers. So it's only logical that this setting is called a prong setting. So Kling mills a groove in each prong. And watching him do it is really something special: working with him with the tiny, fragile claws almost looks playful.s.

„So, and that's where we want to put the stone in. He adjusts the struts again and checks the alignment. Then he puts the synthetic eco diamonds diagonally in the claws. All we have to do now is click the stone in, he says.r.

In addition, a device is used, which he describes with a laugh as a jewelry jackhammer. The machine clicks, clicks, clicks. Ring looks up. That's when you heard it: the stone told me it wasn't sitting right. He takes another quick look through the microscope. I have to go there again. And again the drill sings. The groove in the prong needs to be sharpened. But that's how it is with masters: the material takes on a life of its own. You don't just edit it anymore, it speaks, it sings, it lives. The second time the stone can be clicked in without any problems. Now the frame is polished, removing small bumps or dirt and dust from the frame.erden.

If you ask Kling if he could imagine a different life, one without the sparkling stones, he thinks for a moment. Yes, he then says, he would have liked to have become a pilot, would have liked to have learned to fly. But he doesn't sound remorseful. After all, when you watch him at work with his diamonds, you can get the feeling that your feet are no longer touching the ground. Because there is only what lies in front of him and under the magnifying glass. You take off together and embark on a journey defined by beauty but guided by the pure concentration of the pilot, Wilhelm Kling.

Kling gets up from his workstation and lifts the ReMind Mini Solitaire Ring into the light. The light catches itself on the plateau of the synth. eco diamond, the gold shines richly and fully and it is no longer difficult to understand why Kling does not regret becoming a gem setter: because this result of his work is the epitome of beauty .