Although he had only a secondary education and a diploma in horticulture technology (specialization in garden design), he devoted himself professionally to amber. Amber fascinated him from childhood – having grown up in a seaside town, he often „went to the amber mines” and saw his father working with this stone with simple tools to make jewelry for his mother. He also worked with amber – initially only as a hobby. Only the award for the design and making of the „Słoneczko” ring at the artistic exhibition in Gdańsk in 1971 prompted him to devote himself to the art of amber working. In 1974 he was accepted into the Guild of Craftsmen in Gdańsk as a apprentice in the amber craft, a year later he received the title of qualified jeweler. In 1982 he obtained the title of master of goldsmithing in the field of silver products, and in 1983 the title of master of artistic craft „amber working”.
His works – jewelry items and small spatial forms – have always been characterized by individualism and original form. The natural form of the stone, its colors and transparency were his inspiration. He usually combined it with silver, black oak and wood in a way that brought out their beauty, light and magic. Additionally, he emphasized them with forms resembling those from fairy tales – carriages, windmills, ships, towers, trees, and birds – which quickly became the main distinguishing feature of his work. His jewelry is also imbued with symbolism and points to motifs borrowed from the natural world and magic.
His independent thinking about amber and his individual style have earned him many admirers. His works can now be seen in many museums around the world, including amber museums in Gdańsk, Kraków, Kołobrzeg, Kaliningrad, Vilnius, Nidzie, Rydze, Ribnitz-Damgarten, as well as at the Castle Museum in Malbork, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the Hobro Museum and the Horsens Museum in Denmark, as well as in many private collections. He was also a laureate
Harald Popkiewicz also had a significant role in the sensational discovery of Neolithic amber deposits in 1982 in Niedźwiedziówka. This was possible because, while running a workshop in Mikoszewo, over the years he collected raw material from the local population. Among the finds brought in were specimens of clearly worked amber extracted, as it turned out, from agricultural fields. Attempts to interest the Archaeological Museum in this topic were in vain; it was only a note in the The Evening Express This resulted in an archaeological visit by Marek Jagodziński to his workshop, followed by survey research and the sensational discovery of the remains of a settlement that existed as early as 3200–2400 BC. This is the oldest and largest known amber processing center in the world.
Harald Popkiewicz (1944 – 2021)
