Renate was born in October of 1978. The youngest of four children, she was raised in the university town of Freiburg, Germany. After graduating from high school she moved to the United States to study jewelry design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She graduated from F.I.T. in 2000 and returned to Germany to further develop her craft. She completed a traditional goldsmithing apprenticeship followed by several years of work in the trade.
In 2004, after extensive travel in North and South America, Renate returned to Pforzheim, Germany for further study, completing a master’s in goldsmithing in the summer of 2005. She then returned to Freiburg, where she worked for three years under Hanne Beyermann-Grubert at the Goldschmiede im Schwabentor.
Since 2009 she has her own jewelry business and lives and works with her husband and 2 kids in Kirchzarten near Freiburg.