“I hope to truly convey my feelings and wishes through each piece of work.”
Silvia Furmanovich
Since launching her eponymous brand over 20 years ago, Silvia Furmanovich has become one of the most visionary artists in the field of high jewelry today. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, to an Italian goldsmith father, Silvia’s legacy in craftsmanship runs deep.
Her great-grandfather created sacred ornaments for the Vatican, and her father taught her the importance of artisanship. From a young age, she paid close attention to the craftsmanship of every hinge and clasp in jewelry. In 1998, she established an appointment-only jewelry company and opened her first standalone boutique in São Paulo in 2009.
Silvia’s bold designs combine her meticulous attention to detail with her extensive passion for innovative techniques, the natural world, ancient cultures, and unusual materials. Her lifelong love for travel has brought her many precious collections, allowing her to incorporate her exploration of exotic cultures into her expressions.
By using artifacts, traditional techniques, and unique alchemy, she creates wearable art that is both timeless and one-of-a-kind, making her pieces distinctively bold and precious.
Her collections feature unique materials and techniques such as wood marquetry, ebony, oxidized copper, vintage lacquer, seashells, woven bamboo, and netsuke (small sculptural objects worn on kimonos). These elements are balanced with the rich luxury of gold, rose gold, diamonds, and Brazil’s famous colored gemstones.
Silvia has collaborated with major cultural institutions around the world to design special collections. In 2022, at the invitation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she designed a series of jewelry pieces for The Heirloom Project.
Recently, she partnered with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as an extension of the heirloom project. In 2023, she also developed a series of home collections for Asprey, the iconic British retailer of jewelry, leather, silver, and other luxury goods.
Silvia has won the prestigious Couture Design Award in the “Innovation” category three times, in 2015, 2016, and 2019. Her annual “India Collection” won the Town & Country Jewelry Award in 2018 and was nominated for the Jewelry Design Award at the 2019 American Jewelers GEM Awards.
Silvia Furmanovich
Introduction to Two Major Collections
Egypt Collection
This collection pays homage to Egypt’s rich painting tradition, drawing inspiration from the visual splendor of religious elements, tomb structures, and archaeological sites discovered along the Nile.
These works were born after the artist’s visit to Egypt in January 2021, including iconic locations such as Philae, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Luxor, and Karnak.
During her travels, Silvia’s diary recorded many references that caught her attention. Elements of Egyptian architecture, such as friezes and stone reliefs, as well as crafts and techniques that later appeared in her work, including carving, wood marquetry, miniature painting, and bead weaving.
These jewels also explore the power of symbolic amulets widely used in ancient Egypt, such as lotus flowers, the Eye of Horus, scarabs, and flies. They are intricately carved in turquoise, alabaster, lapis lazuli, jasper, and agate. For the first time, Silvia incorporated papyrus into wood, creating unique pieces.
Silk Road Collection
Silvia introduces a new collection called “Silk Road,” inspired by the artist’s recent travels to several historical cities in Uzbekistan, including Tashkent, Samarkand, and Khiva, important markers on the Silk Road.
The term “Silk Road,” or Seidenstrasse, was first introduced by German geographer Ferdinent Paul Wilhelm in 1877. Along this 4,000-mile ancient trade route between China and the Roman Empire, not only silk was traded, but also lapis lazuli, turquoise, and gold. Of course, the significance of the Silk Road goes far beyond the exchange of goods, encompassing the exchange of ideas and concepts.
Silvia began researching different textile traditions by visiting the best fabric makers, silk weavers, and vintage textile dealers in Central Asian countries. Inspired by this, the artist combined traditional textile crafts found in Suzani and Ikat with her own techniques of marquetry, miniature painting, and bamboo weaving to create new works.
Suzani is a decorative hand-embroidered textile that showcases rich colors and bold patterns. Named after the Persian word for “needle,” they originally came from nomadic tribes in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Their main use was as protective wrappings for items in yurts (Central Asian nomadic tents) and were traditionally made by brides and their mothers as part of the dowry for the groom.
Ikat is a famous dyeing technique used for textile patterns. The craft is formed by combining individual silk threads or yarn bundles and tightly wrapping them in the desired pattern. The yarn is then dyed. This process is repeated multiple times until the intricate and colorful pattern is complete. After dyeing, all the threads are removed, and the yarn is woven into fabric. In the Ikat technique, the yarn is coated with a resist before being woven into fabric.
The new collection of earrings is meticulously handcrafted on looms by female weavers using pure silk; a single pair of earrings has over 1,600 tiny knots, making these pieces masterpieces of exquisite craftsmanship. The collection reflects the exchange of ideas and concepts and a fascination with cultural fusion, which is at the core of Silvia’s work.
As artist Silvia Furmanovich says, “I have always worked with artists and artisans to create new things. In this technological world where everything is machine-made, we all must strive to keep traditional craftsmanship alive.”
Silvia Furmanovich’s creations are no longer just a dazzling display of colors, but contain the essence of different cultures and craftsmanship. Through her work, she raises awareness of humanity’s shared heritage.
Silvia Furmanovich: The Visionary Artisan Redefining Luxury Jewelry
Tweet
