Already during her studies Antje Dienstbir was introduced to the archaic art of spoon forging by the silversmith Rudolf Bott. The power of the hammer stroke to bring a well-balanced silver rod into the shape of a spoon inspired her passion. In her diploma thesis in 1997, at the University of Pforzheim, she concentrated on the spoon as the main feature of a spoon. Driving it out of silver plates, embossing it and interpreting it in a completely new way was the focus of her work. Since then she has dedicated herself to the spoon. Antje Dienstbir's passion for the design of an object lies in the tangible shaping directly from the material.

Building on her many years of involvement with the basic form of the spoon beyond its function as an eating utensil or kitchen utensil, her current cycle of works includes objects in which the oval of the spoon, multiplied in its initial form, nestles into each other in concave and convex interplay, thus exceeding its limits. The intersection challenges the material and the convexities of the curves in a special way.

A double or triple spoon is chased and chiselled from one piece of sheet metal, creating an individual surface structure. In the fire, copper passes through an expressive play of colours on the surface, which also characterises the spoons forged from solid copper.These brightly coloured objects contrast with the spoons forged from silver tang, whose cool colour emphasises the outlines of the shapes. The power and guidance of the hammer stroke shapes the sterling silver in Antje Dienstbir's processual work, leaving behind the finest structures and taut surfaces.

Antje Dienstbir exhibits internationally and has received many awards for her work, most recently the WCC Europe Award for Contemporary Crafts 2009. Her spoon studies are in the collections of the Museums of Applied Arts in Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig and Hamburg. She works in her studio in Wiesbaden.