Category Archive: Jewelry

Head of a Woman in Red by Renoir 3D brooch pin. 1980s. Bonnie Kondor jewelry art inspired by great masters

Bonnie Kondor jewelry art inspired by great masters
Born in 1946, the talented American watercolor artist, teacher and jeweler Bonnie Kondor graduated from Lake Forest College in Illinois and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduation she taught art at Roberto Clemente High School in Chicago for over thirty years. Having retired from teaching, she moved to California and became interested in watercolor painting. The main motif of her watercolors was the beauty of flowers.

An important stage in her life was her passion for jewelry design and the creation of unique jewelry, which today has become highly collectible. Having founded her company Bonnie Designs in California in 1982, she began creating and selling handmade jewelry. Her brooches and pendants are unique miniature three-dimensional works of art, inspired by great masters – Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Seurat, Miro, Klimt, Cezanne and others.

Handcrafting jewelry, Bonnie created a three-dimensional collage of paper, covering it with multi-colored acrylic and glass beads. To achieve the long-lasting beauty and durability of the pieces, she used polymer coatings, resin, varnishes, and enamels. Also, each brooch has a vibrant gold-tone border that shimmers with gold in the light. On the back of each brooch or pendant, Bonnie hand-signed the artist’s name, such as “Seurat & Me,” Bonnie Kondor, and sometimes dated them.

Kondor created jewelry for just over a decade, closing her company in the mid-1990s. 75-year-old Bonnie Kondor and her husband, Laszlo Kondor, 81, now live in La Quinta, California.
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Wolf pendant. Oil paints, magnesite. 6 cm. Maria Ratnikova Lacquer Miniature Jewelry

Maria Ratnikova Lacquer Miniature Jewelry

Based in Kostroma, Maria Ratnikova is a versatile artist who creates beauty by working in various fields of applied art. In her gallery, along with collectible dolls, silk flowers and watercolors, a special place is occupied by jewelry painting on natural stones, lacquer miniatures and accessories (felt art).

Other types of her creativity include silk painting (batik), decoration, working with leather and fur, floristry, graphics, sculpture and inlay. According to the artist herself, each material in turn becomes her favorite, and then she makes a collection-series of works.

Since 2017, Maria has been a regular participant in jewelry art exhibitions in her native Kostroma.

Noteworthy, multimedia artist Maria Ratnikova is also an art therapist and a practical psychologist
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Gold beetle engraving on a coin using nickel, gold. Engraver Roman Butin

Legendary Engraver Roman Butin
Nothing is impossible for the Russian engraver Roman Butin, thanks to his wild imagination and talent. Admirers of his art call this Golden Beetle a masterpiece, as well as many other works of the master from Yekaterinburg.
Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s near-forgotten fairy tale of the same name, the gold beetle features an intricately carved dollar that hides a secret. The button activates the beetle’s wings, revealing gold. Noteworthy, at an auction in December 2017, this beetle was sold for $9,200. However, this is not the highest price at which he sold his products.
Roman’s “Gold Beetle” and its hidden secrets is a reference to Poe’s short story including cryptography; hidden elements that readers must decipher in order to understand the story.
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Brooch with charms, 1820s, Victoria and Albert Museum. Cast Iron Jewelry Art

Cast Iron Jewelry Art
The history of cast iron jewelry began in 1790, when craftsmen in Silesia along with vases and candlesticks, made individual jewelry items. Also, at the beginning of the 19th century, Berlin metalsmiths made cast iron jewelry at the Royal Iron Foundry.
Despite the very fine workmanship and ornate patterns, black jewelry looked rather gloomy and did not have enough secular gloss. Therefore, women mainly used such ornaments at mourning events. Thus, the term mourning jewelry has become synonymous with cast iron jewelry.

However, in 1812, the attitude towards cast-iron jewelry changed somewhat – it became not only terribly fashionable, but super-patriotic to appear in them at social events.

First of all, this popularity arose due to the Prussian princess Marianne. The fact is that in March 1813, Prussia joined the Russian Empire in the fight against Napoleon. War, as you know, is a very costly business. In order to stimulate financial revenues to the treasury, Marianne of Prussia appealed to her compatriots with an appeal. In particular, to donate their gold jewelry for a noble goal – financing the War of Independence.
In return, the benefactors received sincere gratitude from the country and a cast-iron decoration with the inscription “I gave gold for iron” or “For the well-being of our Motherland.”

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Red beetle brooch. Gold, sapphire, diamonds, ruby, enamel. Vladimir Yachmenev jewelry art

Vladimir Yachmenev jewelry art

Born in 1960, Vladimir Viktorovich Yachmenev, a talented jeweler, creates jewelry inspired by Russian mythology and Egyptian motifs. According to the artist’s biography, he began to study jewelry at the art school in Sverdlovsk in 1975. After graduation, Vladimir continued his studies at the Krasnoselsky School of Artistic Metalworking in the Kostroma Region. Noteworthy, the Krasnoselsky School is the most famous and oldest institution in Russia with more than a hundred years of history, and Kostroma is the jewelry mecca of Russia.
Vladimir graduated from college in 1987 with a diploma as a master artist and began his career at the Sverdlovsk Jewelry Factory.
In 1990, Vladimir Yachmenev moved to Nizhny Novgorod, where he graduated from the State University with a degree in art engineering.
Living and working in Nizhny Novgorod, the artist is a permanent participant of regional, national and international exhibitions of jewelry art. A member of the Union of Artists of Russia since 1995, Vladimir has created unique pieces of jewelry that have received many prestigious awards. One of the latest, in particular, is the victory at the contest “Russia. 21st century”, with the set “Assyria” in the nomination “Jewellery Techniques: Traditions in Craftsmanship”.
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Double-sided transformer ring that can be worn with the male or female part of the face. The ring symbolizes the inseparability of lovers. 925 silver. Bihayna silver jewelry art

Bihayna silver jewelry art
Designer jewelry brand “Bihayna” showcases the refined taste and professionalism of its creators. According to them, jewelry art is architecture in small forms, which requires a special approach.
The creative duo of designer and sculptor Hayk Mkrtchyan and Arman Armenyan founded their workshop Bihayna in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan 15 years ago. Noteworthy, long before the founding of the workshop in 2007, the silversmiths already had experience collaborating with various jewelry companies. Besides, both masters, after graduating from art school, received a good art education at the Yerevan Institute.
The desire for expressiveness and perfection in jewelry art led to the founding of their own jewelry studio. Traditionally, the craftsmen use 925 sterling silver, gold and natural stones.

In my opinion, made in a minimalist style rings, pendants and earrings deserve special attention. The artists not only continue the glorious Armenian jewelry art, but also bring their own unique vision to it. Undoubtedly, one-of-a-kind jewelry by this brand is a museum-worthy wearable art.
Bihayna is a permanent participant of jewelry exhibitions both in Armenia and in Russia. The works of jewelers are in private collections worldwide.
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Double leaf brooch-pin or pendant. Copper, patina, amethyst gem, leaves. 8 cm. Unique Electroplated Jewelry by Maria Cherkasova

Unique Electroplated Jewelry by Maria Cherkasova
Electroplating is the art of turning the beauty created by nature into exquisite jewelry. There are a lot of objects for making such jewelry around: beautiful plant leaves, flowers, fruits and seashells.
Jeweler Maria Cherkasova, who lives in the ancient Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, creates unique jewelry under her “Viva Cuprum” brand. Maria turns fragile leaves, flowers and fruits into luxurious decorations and thus grants them a long life. According to Maria, she started electroplating in 2016, when few people worked in this technique.
A self-taught craftswoman, Maria has always loved crafting – sewing, embroidering, knitting, weaving, and creating jewelry. However, once she tried to cover the first leaf with copper, she could no longer stop. “I was completely captivated by the opportunity to forever preserve the fragile beauty of nature. The best thing about jewelry made from copper-plated natural objects is their exclusivity. After all, nature never repeats itself in anything, and the process of electroplating (and especially patination) is the very drop of science, and the rest is magic!”
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