The Austrian jeweller Fritz Maierhofer is also a sculptor, furniture designer and graphic artist. In 1971 his work was shown at the inaugural exhibition of the Electrum Gallery, London, alongside that of German jewellery makers Claus Bury and Gerd Rothmann. All three broke with convention by combining a non-precious material, such as acrylic, with gold. Maierhofer then went on to experiment with an even wider range of materials, including tin and Corian.

Fritz Maierhofer began his career with an apprenticeship as a goldsmith and in 1966 qualified as master craftsman and soon ran the workshop of Heldenwein in Vienna working with precious metals and gemstones. He then accepted an invitation by the jeweller Andrew Grima and came to London. Little did he realise that England was to play an important role in his life and work.

In the early 1970's he suddenly felt the urge for freedom and abandoned the world of commercial jewellery to experiment with new materials and ideas. He distanced himself from conventional jewellery, he wanted his jewellery to be an expression of its time. This is true for the ring in the Victoria & Albert Museum, iconic of the period. Its design combines Pop Art with the machine aesthetics of the Bauhaus.

'Swinging London' in the sixties with its bright lights and colours was inspirational in Maierhofer's early work made of multi-coloured acrylics, often in layers and combined with steel or gold. The combination of the precious and non-precious materials in jewellery was radical for the time. The use of acrylics also enabled him to work on a larger scale.