Dimitra Danai Martzoukou

Greece

“ Confident Sanctuary“

Brooch dimensions:

Length - 95mm, Width - 35mm, Depth - 10mm

Materials:

Main construction - Sterling silver, fine silver, citrine pear cut faceted.

Enamel - Copper, fine silver foil, fine silver wire, vitreous enamels.

The theme “Confident Sanctuary” that was given to me for the Enamel Art Jam 2023 was a great challenge. My first thought when I received those two words was, “what could be a Confident Sanctuary?” and the answer was very clear to me: “Home, the place where we can truly be ourselves, a safe and comfort environment to live with our beloveds”.

As I developed the idea of representing the meaning of home on a jewelry design, my research leaded me to the ancient Greek religion and mythology, where we meet Goddess Hestia, one of the twelve Olympian deities. Hestia - Εστία is the virgin goddess of the domestic and civic hearth, the home, sacred and sacrificial fire, virginity, family and the state. Her symbol is the hearth and its fire.

During the designing process of the enameled part of the brooch (cloisonné technique), I focused on the symbolism of the fire and the colorations of the flame. As I wanted some enameled details to be totally clear and to keep the initial color and shine of fine silver, the difficulty I had to confront was the clear – flux enamel and the reactions of the temperature while blending it with other colored enamels. Finally, after many tests, I decided to create three different pieces to choose from.

In total, my goal was to include the fire element on the brooch shape, which is made of sterling and fine silver mirroring the light as a hearth, ending up with the bezel set citrine pear cut as the flame peak."

dmartzoukou@yahoo.com