Style

21 April 2020

Christina Soubli, the art of filigree

Christina Soubli’s jewels made in filigree are of an almost divine beauty.

By Sandrine Merle.

 

 

Christina Soubli spent her childhood in the workshop of her goldsmith parents on a small island off the coast of Athens. After studying at Saint Martin’s School (London), she set up her workshop and show-room in the heart of Kolonaki, where I met her last October.

 

The outline

Her style is based on filigree, an ancestral technique consisting of stretching a metal wire and then twisting it on itself. The goldsmiths of the Mycenaean period already used it to make ornaments on belts and rings, amongst other things. The twisted wire is all Soubli needs, using its volume to make a ring, a triangular ring or a square ring. Shaped into a curved line, it also becomes an ear cuff. An outline enhanced by a nothing but a few shards of precious stones.

 

Space and form

Christina Soubli excels at toying with space and form. She creates magnificent balanced exercises where geometric shapes fit together. The circle, a reference to the sun, remains her favorite shape. Thanks to the interplay of scale and multiplication, it can be turned into a cuff or huge creoles. As none of these jewels are made using CAD, they retain all the micro-irregularities of hand-made artefacts, which gives them their incredible charm…

 

Divine beauty

Christina Soubli’s jewelry is radiant. It is created on the basis of just two materials and two colors. The almost pure 22-carat gold of a yellow with orange shades and the white of irregularly shaped freshwater pearls. The latter are available in a braid, creating the impression of having been knitted. “I fell in love with the pair of mini-creoles,” says Karine Berrebi, owner of the Karry’O Ggallery. They look like they were cut from gold lace… Superb.

 

SHOP NOW “Kricos” earrings, Christina Soubli

 

Related articles:

Ioanna Souflia, a signature in marble

Greek myths and figures

Most popular articles

Facial sculptures: extending the field of jewelry

Jewel? Facial sculptures? Mask? Fashion accessory? Wearable or not? For these creatives, these questions are irrelevant.

5 avant-garde jewels to treat yourself when you love Japan

Made from non-precious materials and with no reference to the past, these 5 avant-garde jewels are a space where designers Fumiki Taguchi, Shinji Nakaba,...

Highlights of Haute Joaillerie - Paris, June 2024

CAD (Computer-Aided Creation) : a subject that is still taboo in this sector, associated with hand-crafted work by artisans heir to a long tradition.

In Tokyo with Tomohiro Sadakiyo from the Hum brand

The Japanese aspect of Hum lies rather in the work on metal colors and textures. And its philosophy.

René Boivin and the mystery of the "Torque" bracelet

Thomas Torroni-Levene set out to recreate the Torque bracelet under conditions absolutely identical to those of the past.

In Japan, in the workshop of Shinji Nakaba

In 2023, the Loewe Foundation Craft prize brought Shinji Nakaba into the spotlight, but this self-taught jewelry designer had in fact been creating jewelry...