Monday Muse
Monday Muse
Interview: Jewellery Designer Cora Sheibani
Interview
Cora Sheibani
Interview
Cora Sheibani
She’s one of the leading jewellery designers in the world, known for exclusive and unique pieces that constantly seek new forms and materials and never fail to surprise and delight. Over twenty years, Cora Sheibani has devoted herself to her craft, gaining a worldwide reputation. The daughter of a prominent Swiss art dealer, an attention to detail and an appreciation of good aesthetics was instilled in Sheibani from a young age.
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.
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
TW: Among your many exhibitions, from London to New York, do you have a particular favourite that felt especially significant to you and why?
CS: Looking back, I had such great fun creating an interactive Curio space for Design Miami in 2016. I had just launched my Colour & Contradiction collection and made a book with colouring pages and so we made wallpaper that visitors could colour in. I bought all these felt tip pens in colours of real gems and rocks but in the end, people painted and drew whatever they liked. It was fabulous.
TW: What’s your favourite Culturally Curious spot in London?
CS: I hate to be constricted to one thing, but I just got back from the V&A this morning to see the new Mughal exhibition and I guess this museum has the most choice to offer in London. The permanent collection is so vast and diverse I can always discover something new, today it was some of the incredible detailing of the exterior of the various buildings.
TW: An artwork you’d like to add to your collection, if money were not object?
CS: I went to see the Jonas Woods exhibition yesterday at Gagosian and I would love to live with one of his paintings. He loves potted plants, but also has an eye for details that I totally relate to.
TW: Which book would you gift to someone else and why?
CS: Different people, depending on what chapter in life they are in, should read different books. But if I were to gift a person like myself a book now, who has two children in university and has been married for over 20 years then I would recommend Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Créspedes – it would also be a good book to read for parents whose children are about to leave the nest. However, it probably won’t resonate with people without children. To them I would gift On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.
TW: What are the words you use to live by?
CS: Predictably Unpredictable.
TW: Who is your ultimate Monday Muse and why?
CS: I do not have any muses, this may sound arrogant, but I just do not like everything about one single person. I love grabbing small pieces of inspiration from across history, cultures and fields – and even the sexes. I am equally inspired by men and women.
