This year I wanted to develop a series of blog posts that celebrate those artists who inspire us here at the Studio. I wanted to profile and share the work that really gets our creative juices flowing! There are some many artists that I want to include and I actually tried to start this many months ago but somehow things got in the way and I am only now getting going. Mária kindly wrote her biog from me ages ago so I do apologise to her for taking this long.
Wire work is really having a renaissance at the moment, there are some many amazing designers all working away pushing the boundaries of design. So I hope that these posts prove to be inspirational and diverse and if you see any designers you would like me to take a look at then please send me a link to their pages and i'll have a look.
Wire work is really having a renaissance at the moment, there are some many amazing designers all working away pushing the boundaries of design. So I hope that these posts prove to be inspirational and diverse and if you see any designers you would like me to take a look at then please send me a link to their pages and i'll have a look.
Mária caught my eye a few months ago when she created the above necklace after completing In the Studio 01 - Lonely Soldier's latest book. Her work is exquisite, expertly finished and with buckets of creativity. She is able to see the possibilities in a design and expand on that. Her pieces are bold and beautiful, something I think comes from her Hungarian/Romanian homeland. I am always fascinated with Eastern European designers, the culture of folk art and craft, the continued celebration of creative talents have led to an enormous pool of amazingly talented designers in beadwork, macrame, soutache and wire work to mention a few. You only have to look through the Beadsmith competition entries to see the quality of the work coming from Eastern Europe and Russia. Mária work continues this trend and I think she very eloquently described her upbringing and what led her to become a jewellery designer amongst other talents!
Gedő Mária
I live in a small town in Transylvania, the region of Romania where almost 2 million Hungarians live, an ethnic minority to which I also belong. My hometown Csíkszereda (HU) or Miercurea Ciuc (RO) is small but very beautiful surrounded by mountains, rivers - I would never consider leaving it. I am a language teacher, I teach English (EFL) and German (DAF) in a small vocational high school.
Everyone in my family is a sort of Jack of all trades. My parents let us (me and my two siblings) do whatever we wanted, they let us create all sorts of things and what's most important: they didn't mind if we made a mess in the house. During the Communist era we couldn't afford many things so we had to make them. We knitted, crocheted and sewn clothes, made furniture, carved wood, worked with clay, in other words we made many things we needed and longed for. This way we came across many materials, learned how they behave in our hands and what possibilities lay in them. These helped and still help me in my creative process.
In my adolescent years I made my money creating leather jewellery. Then I turned to calligraphy, then to painting glass and ceramics; created batik style Easter eggs which has a tradition here dating back centuries; I also like decorating gingerbread with royal icing. But my love-at-first-sight-craft is creating wire jewellery. I saw the first piece of wire jewellery on Facebook and felt that I had to make something similar. I have been doing this for about two years and since then I have always been searching for newer and newer techniques. I am self taught but have also learned a lot from three tutorials which I bought but I think the most important instrument is our brain and imagination.
I always create my jewellery in my head, I imagine and experiment with wires and sheet metal. I don't intend to copycat anyone but I still consider myself a beginner and still looking for my own style. I am not afraid of experimenting and consider failing and making mistakes a blessing (well, not always) because my mistakes teach me of the nature of the material, of what it lets me do and what it doesn't.
Three wire artists had a great impact on my creative process: IMNIUM (aka Ivona Posavi Pšak), Iza Malczyk and Lonely Soldier Designs (aka James Ferris). Until seeing the first piece of jewellery designed by IMNIUM I only created flat pieces but since then her style influenced me to create 3D designs. Working with coiled coils opened a whole new era for me and I also like working with sheet metal riveting different layers together creating steampunk(ish) designs. I almost always string my pendants on Viking-knit chains because these chains make the whole design complete.
Still got a long way to go but I enjoy every step of it.
I live in a small town in Transylvania, the region of Romania where almost 2 million Hungarians live, an ethnic minority to which I also belong. My hometown Csíkszereda (HU) or Miercurea Ciuc (RO) is small but very beautiful surrounded by mountains, rivers - I would never consider leaving it. I am a language teacher, I teach English (EFL) and German (DAF) in a small vocational high school.
Everyone in my family is a sort of Jack of all trades. My parents let us (me and my two siblings) do whatever we wanted, they let us create all sorts of things and what's most important: they didn't mind if we made a mess in the house. During the Communist era we couldn't afford many things so we had to make them. We knitted, crocheted and sewn clothes, made furniture, carved wood, worked with clay, in other words we made many things we needed and longed for. This way we came across many materials, learned how they behave in our hands and what possibilities lay in them. These helped and still help me in my creative process.
In my adolescent years I made my money creating leather jewellery. Then I turned to calligraphy, then to painting glass and ceramics; created batik style Easter eggs which has a tradition here dating back centuries; I also like decorating gingerbread with royal icing. But my love-at-first-sight-craft is creating wire jewellery. I saw the first piece of wire jewellery on Facebook and felt that I had to make something similar. I have been doing this for about two years and since then I have always been searching for newer and newer techniques. I am self taught but have also learned a lot from three tutorials which I bought but I think the most important instrument is our brain and imagination.
I always create my jewellery in my head, I imagine and experiment with wires and sheet metal. I don't intend to copycat anyone but I still consider myself a beginner and still looking for my own style. I am not afraid of experimenting and consider failing and making mistakes a blessing (well, not always) because my mistakes teach me of the nature of the material, of what it lets me do and what it doesn't.
Three wire artists had a great impact on my creative process: IMNIUM (aka Ivona Posavi Pšak), Iza Malczyk and Lonely Soldier Designs (aka James Ferris). Until seeing the first piece of jewellery designed by IMNIUM I only created flat pieces but since then her style influenced me to create 3D designs. Working with coiled coils opened a whole new era for me and I also like working with sheet metal riveting different layers together creating steampunk(ish) designs. I almost always string my pendants on Viking-knit chains because these chains make the whole design complete.
Still got a long way to go but I enjoy every step of it.
To see more of Gedö's amazing work then head to her Facebook Page there you can see many more of her amazing pieces.
She sells through Easy - check out her jewellery here
And lastly her personal Pinterest page is a beautiful sight to behold, she is really a very diverse designer and each piece that Gedö makes shows such quality of craftsmanship.
Thank you Gedö for taking the time to share your life and work with me!
She sells through Easy - check out her jewellery here
And lastly her personal Pinterest page is a beautiful sight to behold, she is really a very diverse designer and each piece that Gedö makes shows such quality of craftsmanship.
Thank you Gedö for taking the time to share your life and work with me!