Jacob Hull

Glass Pendant & Chain w/Gold Plate, Jacob Hull, c. 1970's for Buch & Diechmann  courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy

I first became enamored of Jacob Hull's jewelry years ago while studying jewelry design and silversmithing. Hull's jewelry, from 1970's Denmark, was a real eye opener to me! It was so muscular, visceral, unapologetic, without fear. Stones were not small, polished accompaniments sitting passively in their bezel. They were crazy, rough and in command of a piece- held to a simple, hammered cuff, choker or ring by liquid metal- mercurial & magic.

Hammered Silver Plate Cuff with Amethyst, c. 1970's courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy 

Hammered Silver Plate Choker with Amethyst, c. 1970's

Sterling Silver Pendant and Choker, c. 1970's studio piece

Hull also designed with glass and metal, like brutal sculptures laid over poured glass disks. How did they not break in manufacture? To this day, I am not quite sure how he did it.

Silver Plated Cuff with Glass Disk, c. 1970's  courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy

Silver Plated Cuff with Glass Disk, c. 1970's  courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy

Silver Plated Ring with Glass Disk, c. 1970's  courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy

Glass Pendant with Choker, Silver & Gold Plating, c. 1970's courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy

Glass Pendant with Choker (detail), Silver & Gold Plating, c. 1970's courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy

Hull designed one-off jewelry in sterling at his studio, and also limited run silver and gold plated pieces produced by Buch & Diechmann. Those B+D pieces were sold in the high end Danish department store called Illums Boligus. Hull was very careful about his designs and knew that they were being copied. His jewelry is always hand signed or stamped with his name.

Aventurine Pendant (detail) with Silver Neck Ring, c. 1970's, originally purchased@ Illums Boligus, courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy

 From all accounts, Jacob Hull was a restless soul who was well traveled, exhibited his jewelry internationally, and lived in several countries. Hull was also an accomplished sculptor who was accepted to Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Denmark.

Jacob Hull finally settled down on the Peninsula of Djursland in Jutland, Denmark. In 1993 his home caught fire. Hull was pulled from the blaze, but ran back into the flames to rescue a beloved vintage car and, tragically, was killed.

Sadly, not much more in known about Jacob Hull in the US. I think I will make a pilgrimmage to Denmark someday to seek out more information about this remarkable artist whose work was like his character- fearless...

Jacob Hull signature, c. 1970's courtesy of eveMODERN on Etsy

Comments

[Kristen]

Thanks for this post! I got extremely lucky a few years ago and found some amazing pieces by Jacob Hull in a little thrift shop, stuck in with a bunch of cheap costume jewelry. I picked up two pieces, one is a very heavy arm band that wraps around my arm like a snake; the other a unique pendant that reminds me of a jackson pollock painting. I've never found another J Hull piece quite like them - I wonder if you can recommend someone who might be able to take a look at them and tell me more about them?

[Suzanne]

Hi Kristen, Feel free to send me a couple of pics to my shop on Etsy called eveMODERN and I will see what I can tell you about them. :)

[JOHN PEREIRA]

Hi I also got this nice pendant made J.Hull (there are three marks on it's back, top left are the letters B and D, right under there is J.HULL and on the right side the name Denmark.
On the front of it is this chunk of amitist that looks like an arrow head in a cabouchon style and of course it's all gold plate.
If you like to know more about it I'll send you photos
Thank you
John