Interview: Jewellery Designer Cora Sheibani
After graduating from NYU, she retrained in gemmology in London where she would launch her label in 2002. Sheibani rarely works on whole collections, choosing to focus on single pieces, a rarity in today’s world. Exhibitions and publications on her work have showcased the breadth and evolution of her design, and how she continues to seek inspiration everywhere, from cookbooks to cacti. She even once created a colouring-in booth, inviting visitors to participate in designing their own jewels. We caught up with the London-based designer to hear more about her process, the material she’s dying to work with next, and why she’s pining after a Jonas Woods’ painting.
THE WICK: You often describe your creations as “designed to surprise and delight.” What personal mantra guides you in this imaginative process and how are the practices of art and jewellery making coming together?
Cora Sheibani: I love to look at art and design, jewellery, objects and nature – everything in the world around us. All this subconsciously feeds my creative process. Most collections then somehow come together by accident. My last one came about because I was asked to do a commission and one suggestion the client did not like I decided I wanted to make anyway, when stuck at a crossroads to choose stones, I realised I did not need to choose one gemstone cut, but many. Hence I ended up making a collection inspired by gem cutting, in particular square facet stones, from diamonds to quartz.
TW: All of your pieces are unique: how do you keep your imagination alive?
CS: I force myself to be creative, I create things that fill a gap. Recently I designed a new bracelet with nephrite because lots of people asked to buy a design that is sold out. As gold prices are so high now, I gave myself the challenge of designing a bracelet with as little gold as possible with nephrite. I came up with the Spectacle bracelet design… limitations force you to be creative.
TW: Your work has taken inspiration from organic forms and architecture. What destination do you dream of visiting next that could inspire a future collection?
CS: I have travelled so much this year that I do not feel like going anywhere right now. From the stave churches in Norway to the Buddhist temples of Java, my brain is still playing catch up!
TW: You’ve worked with various materials, from gemstones to anodized aluminium. Is there a material you haven’t yet explored that intrigues you for a future collection?
CS: Yes. I would love to work with iron that is blackened. Blackened iron is a hard finish to get. It was done in the past through methods of casting we no longer use and using oils that are not well understood.
“I force myself to be creative, I create things that fill a gap.”
Cora Sheibani
