Somewhere in the Ural Mountains of Russia is the small historic town of Kungur. There, metal smith Anna Chernykh designs and creates beautiful organic brass and bronze jewelry findings for her store, AnnaBronze.
She takes every design from concept, wax modeling, casting right to shipping from her workshop. Anna said, "I've been doing jewelry almost all of my adult life. My Dad once started to make jewelry out of German silver, nickel silver, and then, when the opportunity arose, of silver. Now it's my life too." Today she has help from her husband, mother and aunt. She hopes that her children would someday be involved in her family business.
"The idea to making findings appeared in 2009. Since then, I have created 30 collections and my findings are used in different areas of art - puppet making, leather working, clothes, and jewelry making of course."
Anna's gorgeous collections show off her organic style of design, rich in texture and unique in shapes. It is no surprise that her store has many admirers and sales. Creating unique jewelry designs can take a whole new level when you make them with handmade components like these!
There are hundreds of designs, making it hard for me to pick my favorites. There are wonderful end caps and even specific designs for Regaliz leather bracelets. Hop over to her store and you will see what I mean.
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| Kumihimo End Caps |
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Anna is very proud of her home town. She says that if you ever visit Kungur, do let her know and she will invite you to her home and her workshop.
There is certainly lots to see there too. Besides her hometown, Anna mentioned the Kungur Ice Cave :
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The Belogorsky Monastery near Kungur and the city of Yekaterinburg about 270+ miles south east from Kungur ,were embroiled in the bloody aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The last Tsar of Russia and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in a cellar in Yekaterinburg. (see my previous post : Rare Gemstone : Alexandrite and the Last of the Romanovs)
- Supply Emporium's Beautiful Bead Kits and Handmade Components
- Boho and Rustic Ceramic Jewelry Charms and Pendants by Majoyoal
- Luscious Lamp Work Glass Beads by Debbie Sanders
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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Another great find. Her lamp work glass beads are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI've still got her Etsy sit up on my desktop and I'm slowly deciding which of her findings I'm placing in my order.
ReplyDeleteAnna's style is so beautiful and so unique. I can hardly wait to incorporate some of these beautiful pieces into my own work.
Thanks for sharing this incredible artisan Pearl!
Beautiful, unusual and unique findings! So many shapes and patterns!
ReplyDeleteI'm always excited to hear about family controlled cottage industries. It's so important to pass on the knowledge of the craft to future generations. Too often these days, the new generations opt to go "out in the world" and the craft is lost for the world. I experienced such a disaster when we were traveling in Hungary. There was a small group of people who were making "blue print" fabric. This is not plans for construction, but rather, fabric that is printed using a technique much like batiks. The patterns are made by hammering nails int a wooden block, dipping the nails in wax and transferring it to blue white fabric. After the wax is transferred to the cloth, it is dyed blue leaving small dots of white on the fabric in the pattern made by the way the nails are placed. There was only one man who did the reverse, that is using white material with blue dots. He passed away without passing the technique along. I was able to find several pieces of the blue print fabric in a small village outside of Budapest, but alas wasn't able to find any of the white material. I found some American fabric that was reminiscent of the white fabric and was able to make a quilt highlighting the blue print fabric. Now it is even difficult to find the blue fabric. Such a shame!! Congratulations to Anna and her family for maintaining the craft and for planning to pass it on to her children.
ReplyDeleteI so agree that it is a shame when crafts are not passed down.
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