Skins from calf, goat and sheep are used as raw material, which Ulrike Hamm carefully selects. Parchment is not tanned, but stretched and dried in the air. When selecting the skins, Ulrike Hamm pays close attention to their texture and quality - by no means is every skin suitable, especially since every region of a skin behaves differently during the manufacturing process and is therefore only suitable for certain pieces of jewellery. After cutting, she dyes the pieces in an immersion bath, sometimes using a reserve technique that leaves a delicate lace pattern on the material. The damp parchment is soft, elastic and flexible enough to be stuck. During the drying process it shrinks differently on the upper and lower side. Sometimes Ulrike Hamm acts on the shape during drying, sometimes the calf parchment lays down according to its direction of growth. It is the exciting interplay of the material's own dynamics and the conscious exertion of influence that Ulrike Hamm makes use of during her working process. She uses precious metals, oxidised - black - silver and gold to assemble the pieces of jewellery, which she occasionally supplements with freshwater pearls.

Ulrike Hamm was trained as a goldsmith from 1978 to 1981 in the training workshop of the gold and silversmiths' guild in Hamburg and then worked as a journeyman in various goldsmith workshops. From 1991 to 1996 she studied in the jewellery and utensils department at the University of Applied Sciences for Design in Pforzheim. Since then she has worked as a freelancer in her studio in Berlin. Her very special pieces of jewellery have been exhibited and published on numerous occasions.