Some stories are best told, others are carved in wax and cast in metal. That’s how jewelry designer Carolin Dieler sees it. This week (14.10.2025), she launched her new collection, The Harbor, a tribute to the sea, the harbor, and what lies beyond. Small fins, gills, and teeth, along with lobster-, coral-, and barnacle-like textures, are transformed into ship propellers and ropes that twist into rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Carolin’s collections tell stories of the ocean. “Drift” captures the movement of plankton in the current; “Soaked with Lives” translates the painful traces of industrial whaling into form; “Corroded” draws from the worn aesthetics of old shipping tools and rigging. The “Fisher(wo)man’s Earrings” reference those once worn by sailors, engraved with their names and addresses in case of accident. There’s something melancholic, even solemn, about Dieler’s work. Her connection to the sea began early. Her father served in the Navy, and his father before him was a sailor.
During her fashion design studies, she first encountered jewelry-making and was immediately drawn to it. The idea of creating something lasting and deeply personal led her to found her own label. Each piece begins as a wax carving in her studio, and is then cast in recycled silver, before she takes it back into her hands: soldering, grinding, polishing, and sometimes gold-plating. The result is a collection of wearable sculptures with a clear intent: to raise awareness of humanity’s dependence on the marine ecosystem, and to design in harmony with nature. Carolin Dieler’s work reminds us that jewelry can be more than an ornament; it can be a vessel of stories, change, and what endures.
Text: Inga Krumme / Photos: Lena Ross
Studio Carolin Dieler, Juliusstr.64, 12051 Berlin–Neukölln; map
Carolin Dieler also offers wax carving workshops. More information is available on her website.
@carolindieler
