Fantastic world of jewellery @ Raluca Buzura designer

When you are still dreaming of a single piece and you have it in your in mind after hours of looking on the web for new designs in jewellery world… one thing it’s for sure: you have to meet the designer! Even she (in this case, Raluca Buzura, the designer) is 500 kilometers away. And I did.

Where do we find Raluca Buzura pieces? At Cărturești Verona (ROD section), Cărturești Băneasa, Galateca, Zenya Atelier, in a Nurenberg store, in a Vienna gallery, in Frankfurt.
Check out her atelier (ralucabuzura.blogspot.ro) and the facebook page. 

“Look at this way: I have to stay in the atelier over 16-17 hours, practically guarding the oven, until the ceramic pieces are burnt. That is for the first stage, after I had my sketches ready. Then, I have to put the glaze, the pieces go back into the oven, then the painting, the assembling process… To make a necklace could take two weeks”, says Raluca Buzura when I asked her about the process of doing the beautiful necklaces. She has now more than 130 patterns of necklaces (and the same number of models for brooches, rings and earrings). “I have started working on ceramics 7 years ago, when I graduated the Ceramics-Glass-Metal, at The University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca. My first pieces were more hand-made pieces, small brooches, rings and stuff. I was invited to Autor contemporary jewellery fair, and I realized that contemporary jewellery is more than I think; I improved my technique and my designs over the years”.

“I remember my first big piece, my first necklace: it was something from the tribal area of inspiration, made of black clay with some long and golden rods”, she says to me, while I was looking around the atelier, wishing I could take all the pieces back with me: statement necklaces covering the entire cleavage, with dozens of little pieces looking like feathers or poppy flowers in an extravagant construction, architectural green cubes or golden leafs. Yes, let’s not forget about my favorite: the necklace with a dozen mice. “I made this just for me, as an experiment. I had buying requests, but I told everybody that is not for sale”, smiles Raluca. “During university studies, I didn’t actually think I will do jewellery. I wanted to do installations. And I did one and it was a little bit Hitchcock-like installation, with birds, and mice, exploring the phobias, a visual thriller in the end” she remembers, adding that she has in mind to do sometimes an entire collection with humans’ phobias as the central theme. “My favorite texture is ceramics. I love it because it goes from one state to another, first liquid, then solid after burning. I can play with the pieces. And I don’t think I will give it up so easily”, she says, admitting that, even when it is about design and creativity, you can have “stage fright”. “At every collection I got nervous, I think how it is going to end, if I will have enough ideas to finish the work… But I try hard to overcome myself, to be better with every new collection.”

Alina Aliman & Raluca Buzura

Where did she find her materials? It is hard to design a piece, to make it real or to sell it? I asked her all of these questions. “I am lucky: I have a former teacher who provides me a good ceramic. But sometimes, when I have a specific order for a piece, it is hard to find the same porcelain glaze, in the same color… But I guess it’s a little bit harder for me to do the marketing work, to talk with people at art fairs; it’s different. I had satisfied customers, therefore they recommended me, so that part is OK.” Her clients? I was amazed to find out that, in addition of some fashionista or women with a strong personality, there are some brides that wanted spectacular ceramic necklaces for their weddings. “I saw there is a certain dimension that few people are prepared to overcome. It needs a little bravery to wear, every day, a huge piece”, says Raluca Buzura with a smile, while I was looking closely at some… hearts?! In ceramic, in black and white and gold. “This is the latest collection, and it has the heart as an inspiration source. It is a line inspired by feelings. When we think about love relations the first symbolic image that comes to our mind is heart. During a love relation, the heart gets different shapes: beats loudly when falling in love, leaps of joy but also can feel pain when betrayed or rejected”, she explains. Raluca Buzura says that her sources of inspirations can be found anywhere: in vegetal world, in architecture, in feelings.

Her favorites? Susanne Klemm pieces, innovative designs-installation jewellery of Isabella Liu or the masterpieces of Gigi Mariani. What’s next? A impressive presence at Bruxelles design fair (only 5 artist from Romania were selected) and Autor, the next edition of contemporary art jewellery in Bucharest. The ideal going-out? “With a rucksack, wandering the entire world, looking for inspiration, for ancient models of jewellery and captivating stories…”

Where do we find Raluca Buzura pieces? At Cărturești Verona (ROD section), Cărturești Băneasa, Galateca, Zenya Atelier, in a Nurenberg store, in a Vienna gallery, in Frankfurt. And in her atelier in Cluj-Napoca (ralucabuzura.blogspot.ro).

Photo: dreamingof.net

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