Sam Gassman is a New York City based artist and antiquarian with expertise in historic jewelry, architecture, bookbinding, and decorative arts from the Mesopotamian period to the 20th century. His “Rag Jewels” use book binding techniques, upholstery and laborious handwork along with upcycled antique jewelry parts, thread and, yes, actual rags. These wearable jewels reveal the Grand Tour, the foreign markets as if seen for the first time during fantastical time travel. They are engineering, design, high craft, and the gilded albatross of the leftovers of Empire.
Gassman combines his skills in bookbinding, fiber, classical jewelry and metal to create his works. The fully functional jewelry is sewn by hand and fitted into eccentric boxes. The components are castoff pieces from his antiquarian business alongside precious and non-precious materials.
Gassman’s artwork is included in the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France, The Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany, The Museum of Art and Design, New York, The Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Rhode Island, The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, The Dallas Museum of Art, Texas, The Museo Arte Contemporano (MAC), Santiago, Chile, and in many international private collections.
