Spot the Designer - Stefania Sioufa/ Greece

What did you want to be when you were a child?

I wanted to become Jewelry Designer or Interior Designer.

When have you started creating jewelry? How did this passion come about?

I started making jewelry at the age of 12 years old. My first views came along with my grandfather's woodworking workshop. From a very early age I was watching him working with woods, giving them different shapes by using tools like hammers, drills, saws... and I was fascinated by the whole procedure.

What was your first project or significant piece for you and from what point of view?

My first contemporary jewelry project started with my studies at ”Le Arti Orafe” Goldsmith School in Florence and at ”Krama School of Contemporary Jewelry” in Athens, both have helped me harness my imagination and the inspiration that came along with it. I learned how to work on thematic projects using different materials and techniques as well as how to adopt the appropriate methodologies in order to ”give birth” to my ideas and deliver the desired results. The name of the first project was “Transformation”, a contemporary jewelry collection, especially with the significant piece named ”Thoughts”, that means for me the inner change, the work I do with myself transforming me and my soul.
It is one of the best versions of me, coming from the ”dialogue with myself”. Through silence, meditation and observation of my thoughts, comes the understanding, my need for change and internal transformation. It means the transition from negative status to positive status, the self-improvement of the soul, the change of course, the making of new roads. Ideas and plans leading to a magical journey, having along the best steppingstones for the future.

How do you charge your batteries? What other passions and creative interests do you have?

Through meditation I am trying to control and balance myself while I get great energy from my activities such as gym workout, traveling and hiking. I also love drawing and painting.

What does the connection between manufacturing tradition and contemporary design mean to you?

Occasionally I like to combine the classic techniques of jewelry making with a more contemporary version of art. The handling of the goldsmith's tools blend in magically with the organic materials, colors, textures and shapes I wish to give in each individual piece. They fill my imagination with 'soul' and 'shape' by transforming my ideas into a piece-jewelry.

Is there a self-portrait piece that speaks most about you?

Positive and negative, internal and external: Thoughts.  We create them, we feel them, we assimilate them. This brooch represents our thoughts throughout the day. The beautiful thoughts are reflected in light shades on its outer surface and the dark with dark colors and broken mirror pieces inside.

Which material have you not yet used is a temptation and a challenge for you?

I want to get more involved with enamel, glass, porcelain. To test their textures, colors and strengths as materials and use them in my own way while making my jewelry designs.

How do you see the future of contemporary jewelry?

I hope in the future contemporary jewelry will evolve even further, offering this way more expressiveness, new techniques and materials. In that way, every artist, through his work, could present each own perspective and aesthetic and at the same time will discover new paths of creativity.

Find more about the designer Stefania Sioufa