History

For 150 years, we have been making jewelry with a flaming heart for life's most beautiful and exciting moments. Jewelry as unique as the people who wear it. Niessing jewelry accompanies people throughout their lives and is passed down from one generation to the next.

HISTORY

PRECIOUS SYMBOLS OF DEEP DEVOTION

The roots of Niessing reach far back in time. In its early days, the name stood for nuns’ rings and devotional objects — jewelry as a symbol of profound devotion. To this day, handcrafted Niessing wedding rings remain among the most beautiful symbols of love, loyalty and an eternal bond.

HISTORY

NIESSING AND BAUHAUS ARCHITECTURE

In the 1970s, Ursula Exner, née Niessing, laid the foundation for the Niessing design philosophy. Her inspiration: natural phenomena and the sensual minimalism of Bauhaus architecture. Traditional craftsmanship, high-tech innovation and visionary design are inseparably connected. Niessing believes that less is more — for over 40 years, the Niessing Spannring® has been proving this in the most beautiful way.

1972

AVANT-GARDE RINGS Niessing’s multi-finger rings represent the avant-garde of 20th-century international jewelry design: they break away from the classic ring shape and frame the entire hand.

1974

SETARIO Setario, a neologism of “set” and “variation,” is Niessing’s first jewelry line. Various ring designs with soft, flowing lines are crafted in gold, with or without diamonds, and in a variety of enamel colors.

1979

NIESSING SPANNRING® A ring shank and a diamond: that’s all it takes. The Niessing Spannring® has been proving this for over 40 years. During this time, Niessing designers and goldsmiths have created many unique Spannring designs: delicate and magnificent, simple and extravagant, sensually curved, and those with an almost austere, architectural shape.

1979

NIESSING SPANNRING® More than four decades of design history: From the origins of the tension ring concept to its latest interpretations, this journey shows how a visionary invention became an icon. An evolution that proves just how enduring a truly great idea can be.

1979

MUTATIO In 1979, Niessing introduced kinetic jewelry with Mutatio. The ring and bangle are composed of eight movable circular segments that continuously transform in a fluid transition, like waves in water. This masterpiece of craftsmanship in platinum reveals its natural beauty in every form.

1982

PLATINUM MEETS FINE GOLD Even in delicate rings and necklaces, platinum and fine gold form a unique union; the gold appears as if dabbed on or is twisted with platinum into delicate cords. Clean lines, contrasting colors—visionary design.

1982

1984

COLOR GRADIENTS A glowing play of colors – Niessing’s seamless Color Gradients are unique worldwide. Solaris boasts the glowing splendor of a sunset; the shades of Niessing aura® evoke a cool sunrise. And in Iris, gold and silver demonstrate a deep harmony.

1985

TERRAZZO The art of imperfection: Fine gold is combined with platinum or white gold to create unique design elements that appear to have been formed by chance—yet are precisely crafted. Inspired by classic terrazzo, these pieces of jewelry possess extraordinary depth and a fascinatingly modern appeal.

1986

COIL Simply beautiful – delicate and soft, elegantly curved, and unsurpassedly versatile. The Niessing Coil captivates everyone who loves pure design. It is also a true master of transformation: Niessing Artist, for example, makes delicate brilliant-cut diamonds dance along the Niessing Coil.

1986

BANDS A celebration for all the senses: Hand-forged bands are transformed into exquisite jewelry. Woven like the finest fabric, they flow gracefully around the body; intertwined, they resemble delicate paper sculptures; and when folded, they become striking brooches.

1987

HOHL MIT FUGE A revolutionary design from 1987. The interior of the bangle opens up: the joint, unique to each piece, gives the bangle its unmistakable charm. A sheet of gold cut into a tube forms the structure. The open design naturally embodies the Japanese principle of WABISABI. The gold shines from within.

1987

HOHL MIT FUGE / BAROQUE The art of transformation: A horizontal opening accentuates the volume of the “Hohl mit Fuge” jewelry pieces. Innovative design meets the highest level of craftsmanship, offering unusual glimpses. “Baroque” is equally sculptural: the ring and bangle seem to have almost lost their basic form.

1990

PROFILE The power of simplification: Niessing Profile reduces jewelry to archetypal shapes with a precise presence. Circles, lines, and planes come together to create sculptural pieces characterized by exceptional clarity and symbolic power.

1991

TARENT The ancient city of Taranto in southern Italy served as the inspiration for this jewelry line: coiled gold wire is transformed into rings, bracelets, and earrings. A design language that evokes ancient Greek columns with their delicate vertical grooves, but also the jewelry traditions of the Sumerians, Incas, and African tribes.

1995

FALTIGKEITEN From surface to form: Niessing Faltigkeiten transforms thin precious metal into sculptural jewelry pieces of surprising stability and presence. Precise folds lend the surface depth, tension, and lightness all at once.

History and Tradition

Nearly every woman loves jewelry — but only very few have the opportunity to decisively shape the jewelry design of their era. Ursula Exner was one of these few: modern, aesthetically refined Niessing design would be unimaginable without this creative and passionate woman.

Ursula was born in 1924 as the daughter of Bernhardine and Franz Niessing. At that time, the family business had already existed for over 50 years. Goldsmith Hermann Niessing founded it in 1873 as a workshop for devotional objects, where wedding rings were also crafted alongside ecclesiastical jewelry.

After graduating from school, Ursula trained as a goldsmith and joined the Cologne Academy of Fine and Applied Arts. Here, the young woman — already married to business graduate Fritz Exner — learned the traditional art of goldsmithing techniques.

At her initiative, wedding ring designs became more artistically sophisticated in the late 1950s, introducing innovative forms into the collection. Success soon followed: Niessing, which had focused almost entirely on wedding ring production since the Second World War, became one of Germany’s leading wedding ring manufacturers.

Later, Ursula Exner began collaborating with the architect Max von Hausen. Under his influence, she developed a set of design guidelines for Niessing. In the process, she focused on expressing things as simply as possible and sharpening an awareness for logical structures. Active exchange with artists such as Joseph Beuys also contributed to enriching this work.

In the 1970s, Exner and von Hausen established the foundation of the Niessing design philosophy: contemporary design became the clear focal point, and collaboration with external designers had begun. The first advertising campaigns by graphic and photography designer H. P. Hoffmann attracted great attention from the late 1970s onward. In collaboration with him, Niessing developed long-term communication concepts.

After the death of Ursula Exner in 1986, her son Jochen — who had already joined the company in 1978 — continued in his mother’s footsteps. The Vreden manufactory expanded serial jewelry collections, hired designers, established global connections and invested in communication. Jochen Exner also drove the development of a proprietary store system, and by the late 1990s the first Niessing stores had opened. Niessing had established itself nationally and internationally as an independent brand.

In mid-2009, new shareholders took over the company and continued operating it in the spirit of its original philosophy: to this day, Niessing stands for modern, contemporary jewelry and emotional ideas translated into clear forms.

To mark its 150th anniversary, Niessing has secured the future of its Vreden location with the “Glass Manufactory” and focused on sustainable expansion. Sustainability has been part of the Niessing DNA for decades, and the Niessing sustainability concept has received multiple certifications in recent years.

Rings with History

Love has been part of Niessing’s identity since the company was founded. Creating jewelry for the special moments in people’s lives has always been a meaningful and fulfilling mission. Wedding and engagement rings in particular have played an outstanding role throughout the company’s history. With the introduction of distinctive precious metal colors, Niessing positioned itself as a pioneer.

The Seamless Wedding Ring

In the 1950s, Niessing became one of Germany’s leading wedding ring manufacturers with its seamless wedding ring. Today, the manufactory offers the perfect wedding ring for every personality: from individually designed rings created with the wedding ring configurator to Love Story rings that tell a story.

Only the Original with the “Heart and Arrow”

Every single Niessing wedding ring bears the “Heart and Arrow” — the Niessing hallmark, hand-stamped as a sign of authenticity. The fact that the rings are still produced today using the manufacturing process invented in 1904 is not rooted in nostalgia, but in the conviction of the superior quality of this traditional method.

SUSTAINABILITY

ROOTED IN THE HOMELAND

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MANUFACTORY

MADE WITH LOVE

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DESIGN

SENSUAL MINIMALISM

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SPANNRING

THE ORIGINAL

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