Jewels Jewels Jewels! A Little with interview with Elinor Voytal
By LittleDoodles - 1:12 PM
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Treasure, an exhibition of up and coming jewellers that was held as part of London Jewellery Week. As someone with a little bit (ok, that may be an understatement) of an obsession with jewellery it was a must see for me. As well as spotting some established brands that I had already seen and heard of I was also introduced to some great new designers, a few of which kindly let me interview them.
First up it's textile based designer Elinor Voytal...
London jeweller Elinor graduated with a degree in knitted textiles but having been drawn to working on a smaller scale she applied her skills to the wonderful world of jewellery and adornment. The unusual yarns and intricacy really drew me to her work, not to mention the gorgeous colour palette of the pieces she had on display. The combination of fine knit created on a knitting machine and harder materials like metal and crystal prove to be a winning one.
Elinor: Colour, an unusual yarn that I’ve taken a fancy to. Structures, shapes and colours from my own photography or something I’ve seen whilst wandering about. I do keep an eye on future trend predictions and that can often be a source of inspiration too.
Little Doodles: Could you describe the style/aesthetic of your work in 3 words?
Elinor: Intricate, colour, luxurious
Little Doodles: Your jewellery is textile based, have you always have an affinity for textiles? What drew you to incorporating them into your jewellery?
Elinor: I trained in textiles, specializing in Knit. However, when asked at college to design garments, I could never see it, it just didn’t feel right, it seemed too big! It was only when I started working on a really small scale and embedding heavy and hard elements into the delicate knitted fabric that I understood that designing jewellery was where my passion really lay.
Little Doodles: Your jewellery is textile based, have you always have an affinity for textiles? What drew you to incorporating them into your jewellery?
Elinor: I trained in textiles, specializing in Knit. However, when asked at college to design garments, I could never see it, it just didn’t feel right, it seemed too big! It was only when I started working on a really small scale and embedding heavy and hard elements into the delicate knitted fabric that I understood that designing jewellery was where my passion really lay.
Olafur Eliasson's use of light in his work plays an influence in Elinor's work. I can definitely pick up the beautiful colour references.
Little Doodles: Could you describe the kind of atmosphere you like around you while you work?
Elinor: Radio on loud to drown out the sound of the knitting machine and my singing along! A wall covered in inspirational images with everything I need around me. Lots of tea!
Elinor: Radio on loud to drown out the sound of the knitting machine and my singing along! A wall covered in inspirational images with everything I need around me. Lots of tea!
Elinor's working process begins with researching inspirational sights (whether it be an artist, photo or exhibition) and drawing shapes, structures and colours from her findings. These are then translated into textiles, with special consideration going into knitting stitches and how these researched elements can be embedded into the knitting.
An example of how Elinor applies other influences into her pieces, these bracelets from the "Pixel Collection" are inspired by pixelated manipulations of Elinor's own photographs.
As someone who can spend hours poring over art supplies I can understand Elinor's excitement at ordering all of the varieties of yarn in their different shades. I also love that Elinor names Mary Portas as someone who would be suited to wearing her jewellery. If there was one person who owns a covetable jewellery box it's definitely the Queen of Shops!
A big thank you goes to Elinor for taking part in this little interview!
For more details head over to the website
As someone who can spend hours poring over art supplies I can understand Elinor's excitement at ordering all of the varieties of yarn in their different shades. I also love that Elinor names Mary Portas as someone who would be suited to wearing her jewellery. If there was one person who owns a covetable jewellery box it's definitely the Queen of Shops!
A big thank you goes to Elinor for taking part in this little interview!
For more details head over to the website
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