A life spent at the bench.
Mark Timmerman has spent more than thirty years shaping precious metals — moving fluidly between intimate jewelry commissions and large-scale sculptural work.
From sketch to heirloom.
Trained in classical goldsmithing in Antwerp and Florence, Mark returned to North America in 1992 to open a private atelier devoted to bespoke commissions and sculptural work.
His pieces have entered private collections from Manhattan to Monaco. His sculpture has been commissioned by museums, foundations and family estates.
He still works alone, at a bench that has not moved in twenty years.
The piece exists before we begin.
"I do not invent. I listen. The metal already knows what it wants to be — my responsibility is to clear away everything that prevents it from arriving."
Mark's design process begins not with a sketch but with a conversation. Every commission starts in the same chair, at the same table, with no calendar and no clock.
What follows is months — sometimes years — of considered work. Drawings. Wax models. Stone studies. Small revisions. Then, finally, the piece itself.
Four principles that govern every
commission.
Patience
A piece is finished only when nothing further can be removed without loss.
Provenance
Materials chosen with care for origin, story and integrity.
Privacy
Each commission is held in confidence. We work for one client at a time.
Permanence
Built to outlast its first owner — and the one who follows.
Three decades of measured
work.
Apprenticeship — Antwerp School of Goldsmithing
Studio practice — Florence, sculpture & casting
Opens private atelier in Manhattan
First major sculpture commission — Whitfield Foundation
Retrospective exhibition — Galerie Boyer, Geneva
Accepting a limited number of commissions each year
