Jeweler and sculptor Anton Cepka was born in 1936 in the Czechoslovakian, now Slovakian, town of Šulekovo. After attending the Bratislava School of Arts and Crafts, he studied under jewelry artist Jan Nušl and sculptor Alena Nováková at Prague’s Academy of Applied Arts. His interests in art, technology, and architecture has informed his work since the beginning of his career.
In 1964, not long after starting in his occupation, Cepka received the Bavarian State Award for his work at the Internationale Handwerksmesse (International Crafts Fair) in Munich. In 1968, he participated in an international jewelry symposium in Jablonec and Nisou. Though he always focused on clarity and form in his artwork, his style evolved in the mid-1970s to include organic forms. Throughout his career, Cepka’s work has reflected the influence of Constructivism in its fascination with the technological world and modern modes of production.
Cepka is both an educator and an artist who thinks of his jewelry pieces as sculptural compositions rather than adornment. Because of his unique work, that combined essential tenets of Constructivism with ephemeral sensibilities of dynamism and light in the post-war era, he is heralded as the leading figure of Czech and Slovakian jewelry design.