Nina Bukvic

Nina Bukvic’s jewellery making practice is based on spontaneous creativity and the intuitive manipulation of materials, so that individual pieces take shape almost by themselves. Combining labour intensive metal work and textile methods, she hand-weaves and fuses precious metal wire with naturally coloured diamond beads, to create a constantly evolving series of works.

Her first big break came only a couple of years after she gained her degree, when she was talent-spotted by the senior jewellery buyer for legendary fashion retail store Barneys New York. The buyer bought her entire collection for that year, which marked the beginning of a successful and long-lived career. She sold exclusively with Barneys New York across the United States for 13 years, which was an invaluable learning curve. Since then she has exhibited throughout the USA, UK, Europe and Russia. 

Her work has always had an innovative and fresh approach on traditional goldsmithing: "I challenge myself daily through experimenting with both materials and techniques, pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved by fusing tradition with new discoveries."

Nina's love of textile methods is also evident in many of her creations which are carefully translated into metal through meticulous and unique techniques she has been perfecting over the years. The finest gold wires and chains are melted, fused and carefully hand-woven together with beautifully cut and naturally coloured diamond beads.

She tends to work in an intuitive, painterly manner, allowing her emotions to guide her through to the final design; "I am a maker at heart and love to use my hands. This is why I prefer traditional hand tools which allow me to create my work by hand. Each piece I make is an individual and unique one of a kind creation.."