With Isabella Kocum, All That Glitters Really Is Gold

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Isabella Kocum left Switzerland and experienced the creative, dangerous 1980s in New York; today she works in London among paintings by Van Gogh and Leonardo. Kocum is a gilder at the National Gallery and an artist in her own right. But originally she had other plans. This content was published on June 22, 2025 - 10:00 6 minutes

I cover topics related to the Swiss Abroad and Swiss specialities, also producing a daily briefing for the Swiss Abroad community. I studied communication sciences, then worked as a reporter and video journalist for private radio and television. I have worked for SWI swissinfo in various roles since 2002.

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• Deutsch de Isabella Kocum: Bei dieser Frau ist alles Gold, was glänzt Original Read more: Isabella Kocum: Bei dieser Frau ist alles Gold, was glänz
• Français fr Isabella Kocum, pour qui tout ce qui brille est or Read more: Isabella Kocum, pour qui tout ce qui brille est o
• Italiano it Isabella Kocum, una donna in cui tutto ciò che brilla è oro Read more: Isabella Kocum, una donna in cui tutto ciò che brilla è or

The young Isabella Kocum had everything required for a successful international dance career – the will, the talent and the training – apart from one thing: a work permit.

Although she kept getting jobs, the small theatres didn't have the resources to take care of a work permit.“Next,” she says she heard again and again, explaining that she just got skipped over. So, aged around 30, she had to look for a different path to happiness – out of the spotlight.

Isabella Kocum as a young dancer in a studio in New York. Courtesy image An inspiring childhood

Kocum, now 63, was born with a creative streak. With a Swiss mother and an Austrian musician father, she had a childhood characterised by music, dance and art. She was born in Davos, in eastern Switzerland, but she speaks perfect Bernese German.

Kocum grew up in the Swiss capital. Even as a child, she drew a lot and created small works of art with clay, she explains during a visit to Bern.

Her first career aspiration was to be a dancer. However, she first had to learn a trade and thought she could emulate her sister, a dressmaker. She passed the entrance exam for the technical college,“but I thought I couldn't be with so many women.”

After seeing a programme on television about a gilder, she did a trial apprenticeship – and discovered her love of gilding.“You can make something golden out of nothing,” she says.

But dancing remained her goal. After completing her apprenticeship, Kocum worked in the profession for only a fortnight to pay for a plane ticket to New York. That was in 1982.

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