rita holanda jewels

Rita Holanda

The search for primary materials is one of the most entertaining focuses of the art of jewellery making. In the jewels I create, Brazilian stones are used and highlighted. The best example of this is the “fireworks” collection, a homage I paid to Spain. In this country fireworks are extremely popular. Those creations have a box as their base out of which spring out fireworks, represented by Brazilian stones.

I also use a large variety of primary materials encountered throughout my trips, as for example the various items I created using Galouchat (fish’s leather), a material that came from Thailand. It’s an expansive material which is also hard to find as its production is usually aimed at handbags, purses and belt creation. When I saw this Galouchat displayed in a narrow and noisy street in Bangkok, I didn’t wait and had to get it.

Or more simply, the “River Stones” collection, a name I gave those jewels as they remind me of the Rio Preto (Black River) in Visconde de Maúa in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro.

Those stones used in this collection were found in the island of Amorgos, a Greek island nine-hour away from the Piraeus in Athens. I stayed on the Aegiali beach and found the River Stones there, on a remote and secluded beach of Amorgos.

More recently, I visited South Africa and discovered some beautiful jewels that included elephant tails in their design, actual elephant tails. I saw this material combined with gold and silver but was unable to acquire it. I looked for it in The Cape, Johannesburg, Nelspruit,... While looking for it, I found something I loved and which is now part of the “Africa” collection: ivory and light-brown colored bones that remind us of zebras.

This is part of the search and creation process. Each of the jewels I created has a special history and through it becomes particularly special.

I hope you will enjoy them.