When shopping for something special from Ukraine, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of identical Russian dolls, low quality embroidered shirts and salo-shaped refrigerator magnets. One alternative is the handmade jewelry created by local designers who work with silver, gold and precious stones. The Kyiv Post picked three of the most interesting options, representing different styles and traditions.
Andriy Komarov, jeweler
Even though Andriy Komarov got his degree in metal arts at the Lviv Academy of Art, he was not always drawn to jewelry. “I mostly concentrated on etching, stamping – mostly blacksmithing, working with base and ferrous metals,” he explains. The switch came after he made his first jewelry piece following graduation in 2010: earrings for his girlfriend. He wanted to make something himself, so a friend taught him the filigree technique he now uses. “I made one earring and my friend made the other,” he laughs.
Komarov now takes around two dozen orders per month and his clientele keeps growing. He mostly works with silver and natural stones, and doesn’t copy famous brands. He willingly explains the influence each stone has on a person. Komarov says most clients simply order a ring or other jewelry piece, choose the size and type of stone, and leave everything else up to him. “My work is not about following the trends, but about setting them,” he says.
Oleh Protsenko, jeweler
Oleh Protsenko has the talent for making jewelry in his blood. “My dad was a jeweler, he learned jewelry on his own, later my older brother became a jeweler and finally me,” he says. He added that a necessary condition to become a good jeweler is a drive to never stop learning.
Protsenko mostly works with gold, as silver is too cheap. “The time and efforts you put into the work are similar to gold but the final product is much cheaper.” He mostly makes copies of branded jewelry, with the size of a client’s budget determining how close they get to the real thing. “I would want to create something unique, this is my dream, but I simply don’t have time for creativity now,” he says.
His long list of orders is driven by word of mouth. “In jewelry making it is all about the chain effect – the amount of orders today is double the orders of yesterday,” he explains. Models of his work can be found on his VKontakte page, managed by his wife Victoria. But don’t expect actual photos, as the jeweler explains with a laugh: “Customers don’t really want their ‘Cartier’ jewelry to be on my VKontakte page.”
Nataliya Lushnikova, jeweler
Nataliya Lushnikova wouldn’t call herself a jeweler, though she uses the term as a simple way to describe the work she does with her self-invented technique of weaving gold and silver threads. The other material Lushnikova uses are diamonds, which she buys at auctions. The whole process is very time-consuming.
“I spent nine months on one pair of earrings,” she says, adding that earrings usually take one to three months. “I make only earrings, necklaces and bracelets. I can’t make rings – the material isn’t strong enough.”
She provides a lifetime guarantee with her jewelry, but notes the woven jewelry usually lasts three to five decades.
Lushnikova has two degrees in finance and linguistics and entered the jewelry business only a two years ago after a long search for the perfect earrings pushed her to make them herself. Engrossed by the work, she now mostly makes large pieces and uses Karaite themes in her design.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected].
