Welcome to Zemfira

by Zemfira
(London, UK)

One of my latest rings

A Brief Biography of an Artist

Zemfira's journey from creating simple cork earrings for her schoolmates in Latvia to discovering her calling in silverwork is one which shows in her passion for handcrafted artistry and beautiful designs.

Whether visiting family back home or riding a double-decker bus in London, Zemfira is inspired by the world around her.

Her jewellery designs are her response to all sorts of visual stimuli, including architecture, Japanese clothing and once even the sweep of a boy's hairstyle!

Her creativity was first shown at an early age designing embroidered pieces and celebrated in an exhibition where she showed abstract leather works alongside famed Latvian artists.

Constantly experimenting with different techniques and mediums, Zemfira has also studied working in stained glass, mosaic, batik & silk painting and interior design. She'd like to try her hand at pottery, if only she could get over the possibility of ruining her nails!

Some of her jewellery makes an immediate transition from sketch book to work bench but others are kept for the right time and right materials.

With pieces taking many hours to complete, the time and work put into the jewellery is something to take note of. For example, a chain necklace shown on this site took 25 hours of pure work, not including the initial inspiration and numerous sketches she drew before actually beginning the construction of the piece.

While working primarily in silver these days, Zemfira first began making jewellery in her homeland of Latvia.

In school she sold pieces made of leather, glass beads and cork. Her jewellery was also sold in an arts and crafts shop alongside local artists' pottery and paintings.

Zemfira is not limited by a set style, if anything, her current mode is one of constant experimentation. She works in a vast array of materials, from semi-precious stones, glass beads to leather and found objects. She delights in unusual pairings, such as a piece using both starry Swarovski crystals and earthbound seaside pebbles.

As you can see here, each design depends on her initial inspiration and the materials she chooses to work with. The pieces here are only a sample of the type of work she does.

While Zemfira may make an item similar to a piece shown, she doesn't plan to duplicate. Creating unique one-off pieces is her goal.

She is constantly challenging herself to work with materials she finds and new shapes that inspire her.

- Zemfira of
Zemfira Design (with the Flash intro page)
http://zemfira-design.co.uk/index2.html (without the Flash intro page)