One of my favourite poets was and will always be Rainer Maria Rilke.
Bohemian born in 1875 he is considered one of the German language`s greatest 20th century poets.
Working with the sculptor Auguste Rodin in the early 1900 he learned about the value of objective observation which led him to my personal fav poem which often comes to my mind while creating another tiger or African theme bead:

The Panther

His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.

As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.

Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly--. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Normally I'm a very careful person.
But when it comes to passion in my life things are turning upside down and long-life experiences blew up in the air like silver foil in a hot flame.

I have two major passions in my life. At least to be honest I think I have several more but these two are main parts of my spirit.

The first passion which I grew up with are horses.
I started horse riding at the age of 8 and continued it ever since. There were parts in my life where my first priority was on other things but I always had to return to these beautiful creatures. Nothing is more enjoyable and relaxing than a long ride galloping over green pastures and feeling the wind in your face.

My second major passion is art.
It also started at a very early age and I can't remember doing something else during all this years which was not related to arts. My studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich even more opened my mind up to all unconventional ideas and being a free spirit myself I really enjoyed those years of experimenting and self-finding.
Since I discovered the art of working with hot glass many years ago, my long journey came to a very satisfying point. Finally I found myself a companion, a free-spirit, not always unpredictable, but sometimes surprisingly reacting in unexpected ways from day to day.
Glass, molten glass!
Don't think it's an easy way to express yourself. Glass is a very precious material which needs to be handled carefully and with respect. But once you have found the way to show its incomparable beauty you have discovered one of the most satisfying things on earth.

People will always talk about you, especially when they envy you and the life you live.

Let them.

You affected their life, they didn't affect yours.

It's getting warmer meanwhile and spring is knocking at the door. Here are just some photographs from what's going on outside our workshop. Our workshop guardian, Carlo is looking at his friend Roary, the huge shire horse stallion. They love each other.

 

 

Traditionally it's a painting which first comes to mind if thinking about art.
Since Astrid loves to paint and has a formal background from the days back at the Academy she tried to combine both, the painting and the glass art.
Now her first pieces are available in the online shop. Check it out.
There is a new category called "Gaia Paintings".

If you love going on trips and have jewellery, you know how easily necklaces and bracelets can get mangled, how jewellery pieces, particularly those containing glass beads, can scratch each other, or even how you can lose a pendant or an earring to the jumble. Using a jewellery travel case most probably solves all these issues and helps you keeping your jewellery organized.

Protecting your jewellery saves you grief and money as scratched bracelets and broken necklaces are expensive to repair or replace. Sometimes they even cannot be repaired or replaced at all.
It also stops dust and dirt from getting into and at your precious jewels.

Jewellery travel cases are available in a wide assortment of shapes and sizes.

If you have fragile pieces of jewellery (any piece that would easily break in your luggage), a hard case is recommended, otherwise, a soft case is easier to pack.

Here are the most important things to look for in a jewellery travel case:

- Lined with a soft material
- You want your pieces of jewellery to be stored separately. Therefore the case needs to have compartments or other means to avoid the jewellery banging against each other. Each single piece should also be stored in a way that adjacent parts of the jewellery cannot damage each other.
- Fits easily in your bag
- Has a safe locking mechanism to prevent accidental opening

Whatever case you choose, know that your jewellery will be easier to find, more protected and tangle-free!
Have a great trip!

It's not in the online shop but it's worth to be mentioned on the website. So why not doing it here?
Glass figurines of the human body!

Sculptural work in glass is a challenge on its own certainly.
Working "off mandrel" handling just the glass using grabbing tools, glass and steel punties, or just the hands protected by suitable gloves is fascinating. Also there is a different glass being used than for the beads in the jewellery and it behaves differently of course.

Here is a glimpse of 2 recent sculptures which were going overseas to a customer in the USA.
Maybe we put such sculptures in the general online shop one day, but for the time being they shall remain hidden in the non-public department. Currently it's just about custom orders and not for general sales.

I think that one of the most exciting times in a young girl’s life is her first visit to a jewellery store.
Then again, I think that a lot of women never grow out of that feeling of excitement either!
There is something magical about looking at all of the sparkling pieces glittering in the jewellery store window and in the display cabinets, even if you cannot afford to buy everything that you see.

When she walks inside she may feel like a princess being able to try on all of the bracelets and necklaces with those cute designs.
It's certainly a joyful experience of watching her.

Of course, a jewellery store can also be an extremely romantic place.
Sound strange? Well, think about it
How many couples go to a jewellery store together to pick out their wedding rings? I know how electrifying it felt when my fiancé and I went to choose our wedding rings and finally found a jewellery store that had the perfect ones in their window. When we went inside we both had a feeling that this was going to symbolize the start of our new life together and the jewellery store played an important part in that.

I guess it doesn’t matter what you buy in a jewellery store, they always seem to have an air of something special about them.
It might be the fact that there are a lot of expensive items around and everything is shimmering with that newly-cleaned look that only new jewellery seems to have!

Sometimes it is easy to feel a little underdressed, especially when you enter some of the more exclusive types of jewellery store that you have to ring a bell to be let into.
I do like to take a look around the local jewellery store when I need cheering up. Mmmmmh, well, I cheer up as well when I look at our exhibition glass cabinet and the shelves with our own jewellery.
I enjoy the great feeling to not only look at some great jewellery, but to look at pieces of art made by myself.
It might sound silly but maybe you should try it too – all that brightness around me certainly seems to rub off and raise my spirits.

And should you visit us in our showroom which is much like a jewellery store as well I'll be delighted to show you everything.

It's been an exciting day today when a whole convoy of vintage cars arrived and entered the roundabout in front of our house to spend a visit to the AsKoru studio.
We always love the opportunity to show others our work and how the whole process of flameworking and glass bead jewellery making works.
The Northland Vintage Car Club took the opportunity of their todays rally to make our studio one of the checkpoints and give the drivers and copilots time to learn about flameworking and our work.
We found a very interested audience which did not hold back with questions, being keen to learn about melting glass.
Time just flew and after an hour they hit the road again. Have a nice trip, guys!

The Treasure Hunter Specials are so well accepted by many website visitors and customers that we start another round right now.
If there was nothing for you yet, there maybe something now.
If something catches your eye then don't hesitate to put it in your cart since somebody else might be after the same thing.
Experience so far tells that these items maybe gone pretty quickly.
This category is for the one who always is on the hunt for something special being not expensive at the same time.
Here you may find items from the last fashion season, or items in unusual colours, or maybe something which we just hide here to make you return to this website.
All items offered here are not seconds or of low quality. They are definitely one-of-a-kind.
If an item is sold it's not gonna be remade.
You can find the new category by using the site navigation or the speed bars at the top of the homepage.

AsKoru on MySpace
We eventually managed to establish a MySpace presence (www.myspace.com/askoru).

Maybe you check our page out there, learn to know some of our friends and customers in the fashion world, and enjoy our flashy jewellery fashion show video.
Don't forget to turn your speakers on. The tunes and pace are thrilling.

The Treasure Hunter Specials, our new category in the shop completed the 2nd round already.
Why not add more? - It's available right now.
If there was nothing for you yet, there maybe something now.
If a something catches your eye then don't hesitate to put it in your cart since somebody else might be after the same thing.
Experience so far tells that these items are pretty much sought after obviously.
This category is for the one who always is on the hunt for something special being not expensive at the same time.
Here you may find items from the last fashion season, or items in unusual colours, or maybe something which we just hide here to make you return to this website.
All items offered here are not seconds or of low quality. They are definitely one-of-a-kind.
If an item is sold it's not gonna be remade.
You can find the new category by using the site navigation, or the speed bars at the top of the homepage.

Why are blogs so popular these days?

I really don't know.

Is it that somebody has to tell something important or is there nobody else around to listen to them?
Is it and indication of lack of social contacts, or is it just the opposite?

Isn't it an amazing phenomenon that people publish their every-day-life and at the same time maybe bothered about privacy and that some business or third person may find out personal details and consumer habits?

A blog is food for any profiler and it opens the door widely for SPAM mailers if even email addresses are published.

But back to AsKoru.
Now would you like to read about Astrid's and my private every-day-life? - C'mon, you would!

Fortunately this website is not a private website after all and we don't want to confuse business with private matters, do we?
So there won't be private matters being published here. No need to wait for it.

Maybe this or the other opinion on things going on in the world, particularly in the glass jewellery world is to be read here, and of course, if there are news about the shop.

Let's see how this turns out eventually and if I find out why these blogs are so popular these days.

Thanks for tuning in.