Cooper Hewitt says...
Trained in industrial design at Pratt Institute, Muehling designed his first piece of jewelry, which was inspired by the leaves of a ginkgo plant, in 1976. He sold his jewelry to Henri Bendel that year and won a Coty award for jewelry design, one of two, in 1977. Muehling opened his first boutique in Soho in 1990. Nature has been a continual source of inspiration for Muehling who designs jewelry, tablewares, and decorative objects after forms found in the natural world. Inspired not only by objects collected on beaches and elsewhere in the wild, Muehling also finds inspiration in the botanical studies made by early travellers and artists who documented their finds, including insects. He creates in and designs for a range of materials including precious and semiprecious stones, metals, pearls, horn, glass, porcelain and wood. In his studio the designer produces multiples as well as unique pieces, surrounded by many natural specimens he has collected. He has also collaborated with a number of manufacturers including Nymphenburg Porcelain, E.R. Butler & Co., Steuben Glass, Lobmeyr and the Vienna Silver Manufacture.
