Designer of the Month: Lydia Niziblian
Monday, January 9th, 2012
In 1992 I left school and took a foundation in Art & Design.
At the point of completing the course, I should have followed my heart, and gone on to study fine art.
I went on to take a degree in Film & Video at (what was then) West Surrey College of Art & Design. In spite of all my best efforts to the contrary, I graduated with a shiny new BA(Hons) in 1996.
Work in television production followed. Highlights included electrocuting myself while testing products for a review show, audibly vomiting during a live cookery programme and being pecked on the head by an eagle owl.
Despite these giddy showbiz heights, I missed my artistic endeavours, so took a City & Guilds in Jewellery Design specialising in Silver at night school. It was here, (thanks to my fantastic tutor Nicholas Keogh) that I discovered a real passion for working with silver.
When I had my daughter in 2005, I became a full-time mum, and my husband and I moved back to Cardiff. My son followed in 2008. A couple of brushes with death for two of the four Niziblians led to us having a discussion about what exactly we wanted to do with our lives.
I dusted off my tools and made a few pieces of jewellery. I showed them to people, and they all sold. With the support of my fantastic family, that same week in April 2009, I became officially self-employed as a jewellery maker.
When I was little I wanted to be an archaeologist, and I think the idea of discovering something hidden in the earth stuck with me. I love working with gemstones, minerals and crystals in their uncut and unpolished state. Lots of my work is designed to look ‘found’. I really enjoy playing with finishes, especially oxidising and the range of colour-play it can give. There’s definitely a perverse pleasure in making something clean and perfect, then working it back to look distressed, aged and worn. Although I like trying out new materials, silver is my real love, it’s fantastically easy to transform and the variety of ways you can work it are vast. It’s a little bit magic.
I currently work from a studio in TactileBOSCH in Cardiff, where I am on a constant learning curve. I’m always trying my hand at new techniques, and find inspiration in many places, from nature to science-fiction. I recently had a go at working with brass, silver and copper for some large-scale autumnal jewellery for an alternative fashion magazine. The oak-leaf cuff I made won me a new workbench in Cookson’s design of the week competition. I was delighted, and it’s going to see a lot of use!
As for the future, I’m looking into expanding the range of ready-to-buy jewellery I offer. I plan to keep experimenting, learning and creating for as long as I possibly can. I consider myself incredibly lucky to be doing something I love so very much.
Take a look at Lydia’s gorgeous work: www.niziblian.com