Wire Wrapping Tutorials and Helpful Hints

I met Irith online and instantly fell in love with her beautiful jewelry. Irith tells me she started her studio in January 2002 but only started selling online at Riorita Etsy in January 2008. We’ve all been missing out all these years!

I asked Irith to tell me about herself. “I call my handmade jewelry shop Riorita. I have been a silver and goldsmith for the last 15 years and enjoy every minute of it. I live in Haifa Israel, by the Meditteraenean, and my handmade jewelry workshop is situated in a small artists ‘colony’ in Kibbutz Ein Carmel near Haifa. There is a lawn with statues and more workshops of various artists across my workshop.”

This sounds like a wonderful place to really be creative, especially near the sea – how nice!

“Before creating handmade jewelry, I used to knit and corchet anything from tablecloths to small curtains. I used to sew all my clothes but ever since I started jewelry making, all I have in my mind is handmade jewelry design.”

Irith started creating jewelry “after I got tired of working as a legal secretary. I remember during a lunch break, I passed by a silversmith’s shop, looked at his window and thought to myself ‘I think this is what I want to do. I am going to give it a try!’ Following this thought, I began my studies at Wizo Art School in Haifa.”

I find it very interesting that many jewelry artisans who I have interviewed discovered their talents later in life, not as a teen or young adult, but possibly after we have fulfilled other goals in our lives – maybe got married and raised children and then finally got around to taking time for ourselves.

Irith sells her jewely in the main gallery of Ein Hod, an artist village close to where she works, in Tefen Art Gallery Shop, and more galleries around Israel. Many of her handmade jewelry items are sold abroad.

Irith told me “In my handmade jewelry workshop, I design and create jewelry in silver and gold combined with semi-precious stones and precious gems. Many of my items are hammered in the repoussee technique which means they are hammered on top of a bowl of pitch which gives them a 3D or sculptural effect.”

Some of Irith’s designs are symmetrical such as geometric shapes, hearts, butterflies or leaves, but she also enjoys using asymmetrical shapes.

What Irith tries to keep in mind is that jewelry should give women a feeling that they look beautiful and special. Sometimes just a row of pearls can do the job, but on other occasions, Irith’s jewelry adds a desirable effect.

Irith designs and creates a variety of jewelry including silver and gold necklaces, earrings, pendants, and bracelet along with many handmade jewelry pieces which are custom made.

I asked Irith what her future goals are and she told me “to find more new elements and learn more techniques to use in my jewelry. Your fantastic wire wrapped jewelry is a technique I’d like to adopt and apply to my own ideas in jewelry making.” Thanks, Irith!

“As for my online business, I wish people would buy more.” Ah, the wish of us all.

Two other creative outlets that Irith would like to accomplish is to study painting in an art school and learn to create paper mache items.

Crafting is Irith’s fulltime job and when you look at her beautiful jewelry, you can certainly see why! Irith told me “I live, eat, breathe jewelry design all day and at night, my head has been working overtime.”

Thank you, Irith, for sharing your stunning jewelry with us, your goals and your dreams!

Irith’s jewelry can be found on several sites on the web:

Riorita Etsy

Irith M. Jewelry Flash Site

Irith Mashiah Jewelry

Riorita Blog

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 9:57 am and is filed under Featured Artisan Monday . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.