Headlines

The original HEADLINES was forged over thirty years ago using three pieces of steel but the story starts many years earlier. When Hermann was three years old in Cologne, Germany, he wandered out the front door one day and ventured into the neighborhood, where he discovered the local blacksmith. He was awed by the fire and sparks and the power of the trade.
This is what he wanted to do when he grew up.

Hermann met Erwin Gruen in Chicago in the late 1950s. Hermann had opened a successful goldsmith and sculpture shop near Rush St. and Gruen established a carriage house and iron works a few blocks away, near Goethe. Unlike Hermann, Gruen elected to remain in Germany during the war and was captured by the Nazis, surviving the holocaust only because of his trade. He emigrated to Chicago after the liberation and plied his craft. Gruen asked Hermann to watch the store for a month while the blacksmith visited Berlin.

Hermann checked on his friend's business while Gruen was away and practiced on the assorted pieces of steel he could find. During that month, Hermann recalled his childhood dreams and forged and welded the lines into an abstract head. For his own amusement, he called it HEADLINES.

Hermann used the steel piece to mold bronze copies a few years ago, and the foundry was clueless as how to fill the mold. Hermann proffered the answer and HEADLINES was cast.

There are only 19 available from this limited edition of 22 bronze copies that stand approximately 14" high and weigh 30 lbs.