These beautiful golden pieces by Maria Sørensen are like little treasures to me, and I’ve fallen in love with their delicate details and the stories embedded in their forms.
Maria makes each and every one of her pieces with a sustainable approach, using recycled gold and other metals to craft each design. Her jewelry is made in her Copenhagen workshop, and is inspired and brought to life by one of her passions — be it art, history, philosophy, or poetry. Maria comes from a family with a long history of jewelry making, and created her own lable in 2015. Since then, she has been crafting unique and inspiring pieces that celebrate the rawness of the materials she works with in the most elegant way. Maria also creates one-off, bespoke pieces for customers who would like to transform their old gold into something entirely new and special, and you can explore her custom options here. In the interview below, Maria and I talk more about what inspires her work, and how she approaches the craft of jewelry making with an imaginative and intuitive direction guided by her own emotions.
Visit Maria Sørensen Online | Follow Maria Sørensen on Instagram
~
This post was written in collaboration with Maria Sørensen
Featuring the Before the Seas Necklace & Gaia Earrings
AD / Gifted Product
An Interview with Jeweler Maria Sørensen
Maria Sørensen – Copenhagen Denmark
Q: Maria Sørensen — a name that not only belongs to you, but also represents your brand and work. When did you first decide you would launch your own jewelry label?
“I was very young when I first started designing with my dad, and by time it became the only thing that really felt right for me. Both my grandfather, father, and my brother are goldsmiths, and my nearest family has been self-employed for generations. I have thus always felt more intimidated by the thought of not being independent. What has really caught me about this specific métier is the fact that jewelry can express so much creativity, emotions, and stories.”
Q: Growing up in a family of jewelers and witnessing your father’s craft from a young age must have felt a bit magical, and I can imagine that it kindled a curiosity for the rare and precious things in life. Thinking back, what aspects of your father’s work were the most fascinating to you?
“There are many things about my father’s work that has fascinated me throughout my life. As a child I would run over to his little workshop besides our house and I would find him on his workbench, listening to old cassette tapes, buried in a little wax sculpture, he would have worked on for hours. I was especially fascinated about his collection of big colored gemstones, and on a beautiful day, he would get me one, and I would proudly keep it close to my heart for days. Today, I think what fascinates me the most about the work, might be the need of the jeweller’s full immersion. Working with materials so precious needs one’s full thoroughness and awareness.”
Interview Continues Below…
Q: The pieces that you design and craft have a rawness to them that’s both beautiful and curious — it’s obvious that your approach to materiality is very pure and uncontrived. When you start with a new design, what is the process like? Do you allow the material to guide the form, or are you normally focused on a per-determined path based off a sketch or model?
“Usually I will know where to go, but search for an inner picture, instead of a physical drawing. In that way, there is room for a revelation, and emotions and material will guide me home. As a jeweller, you don’t have much space to work on, no colour palettes to express with and you’re bound by weight, shape and size. Fortunately, the major differences lie in the smallest details, and thus the pieces always demand precision.”
~
“As a jeweller, you don’t have much space to work on, no colour palettes to express with and you’re bound by weight, shape and size. Fortunately, the major differences lie in the smallest details, and thus the pieces always demand precision.”
~
Q: Each of your jewelry collections connect to a theme or concept based on history, art, poetry, or philosophy. Do you find yourself gravitating towards a specific period or era, such as the Renaissance or Age of Antiquity, as you build the foundation for the collection?
“I am highly inspired by the world of philosophy, art, and literature and I always find my self returning back to these in the search of beauty. It is difficult to pick a specific era that I prefer over another, as I find myself inspired by so many periods and movements within history. My collections do not have to be rooted in a specific era – for me it’s more important that they illustrate something that can inspire. “
Q: The pieces in your second collection, The Cosmogony, illustrate your imaginative storytelling in the from of jewelry. Together, they explore the myths of the universe and how order was unraveled from chaos. The outcome is undeniably exquisite and blurs the lines between modern fashion and ancient craft that shares a close connection to the elements. What was your process like when designing this collection, and did you imagine a specific woman archetype as the wearer?
“Your words mean everything to me, thank you Rebecca. As you state, The Cosmogony is an exploration of the ancient Greek and Roman creation myths. The design process was an intuitively outcome of thoughts, emotions, and imaginations linked to these fascinating creation myths. The process became a beautiful immersion in an imaginary worldview. I actually never imagine a specific archetype as the wearer, I hope the jewelry are for everyone that sees themselves in them.”
Q: All of your pieces are slowly-crafted by hand from gold, silver, or a gold-plated combination of the two. This type of artisan work also gives you the ability to create special pieces from a customer’s recycled gold. It’s so nice that the journey of a material can continue when you’ve crafted it into a new design, and I can imagine that some very special pieces have been born from this program you offer. What’s the process like when creating a custom piece of jewelry and how involved is the customer with the design usually? Can you tell me about some of your favorite projects?
“These projects are one of the most beautiful things to work with. My finest job is to get to know the bearers and find a way to let the jewelry speak their stories. My customers are so involved in the process, especially when the pieces are created for their loved ones. It always gives me butterflies, keeping the jewelry as small secrets until they finally are released and given. There are so many special projects through time – I could never choose one. Yet I’m so grateful and proud, being able to create a personal pieces of beautiful inherited gold while contributing to a more sustainable world.”
Q: You’ve mentioned that each of your collections are connected closely to your own personal journey through life. Have you focused on a theme or topic for your third collection, and could it reflect the recent change our world is going through today?
“It really could, and I would love to dive deeper into that. I love gravitating around everything that awakens sensitivity and explores new ways of seeing things. Though I’m already working on some projects, I can’t wait to show you!”
This post was written in collaboration with Maria Sørensen
Featuring the Before the Seas Necklace & Gaia Earrings
AD / Gifted Product
~
