Ralph Bakker was born in 1958 in Kürten, Germany. He studied at the Dutch Intermediate Technical School in Schoonhoven and later at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 1991 to 1994. Since 2000, he has been teaching gold and silversmithing at the Vrije Academie in Rotterdam.

The core of Bakker’s work is the jewel — its evolution, history, tradition, and technique. A maverick among his peers, he does not concern himself with the conceptual aspects of jewelry as a body ornament but instead focuses on the object itself.

He explains:

“During my time at the Rietveld Academy, I decided that I wanted to cherish and uphold the tradition of this age-old craft. Reading the biography of Benvenuto Cellini, a sculptor and goldsmith from the Renaissance, was an important inspiration for me. My works are clear pieces of jewelry and are certainly very wearable. My inspirations come from the material itself, the symbolism of a traditional form, or the beauty of a technique. I have acquired extensive knowledge of traditional materials and old techniques of the craft. This knowledge allows me to create pieces of jewelry that arise from controlled experimentation — works that embody the essence and significance of the goldsmith’s tradition.”