Meet the Maker - Elena Lara

This is ‘Meet the Maker’ part 4, where you get to know the story behind the aesthetics. This week we chat with Elena Lara one of the five designers featuring in our latest New Designers exhibition.

Be sure to pop back every Monday as we shine a light on great ideas and the people behind them...About you?

I was born in Italy, where I developed a strong passion for jewellery that now I consider a significant part of my life.

My curiosity and incessant will to learn have driven me to move to London where I graduated from Central Saint Martins with a First Class Honours degree in Jewellery Design, an experience embellished with several prizes and awards from Cartier, Swarovski Foundation, Leatherseller's Company and Brian Wood Travel Scholarship.

The progressive acquirement of new knowledge and skills through different work experiences for jewellery brands in Milan, London and Paris led me to create my own brand, Elena Lara Jewellery.

What first attracted you to working with Jewellery?

What I appreciate about jewellery is that you can really interact and play with them. In fact, jewellery has a perfect scale for the body, they need to be worn and you need to wear jewellery.

Moreover, I’ve always loved working with my hands and manipulating the materials. For me, it’s always very fascinating to see something that becomes alive thanks to my actions. I’m not scared about elaborate process, they are actually fundamental for me in order to achieve the best possible result.

What has been the inspiration for this collection?

In my jewellery I wanted to combine craftsmanship and mass production, mixing the high-quality manual skills typical of Italy with a more conceptual and contemporary approach developed in London.

My jewellery focuses on the use of gold and silver chains as the common element of my collections, creating jewellery with double designs, metal fabrics with fascinating textures and graphic patterns on gemstones finely hand-carved in geometric shapes.

The chains I use are light, thin, free to move, they reveal something and they hide it at the same time. I wanted to give them a new perception and a fresh twist, transforming them and play with the different colours of metals.

What are your plans for the future?

I would like to keep doing my job that is what I love and to grow my business of course, combining travels and meeting of people from different cultures, enriching my mind and influencing my jewellery, always having the flexibility to accept changes.

What advice would you give someone who is trying to become a jewellery designer?

Always be curious, passionate and patient.

Your favourite quote or words of wisdom?

‘Believe you can and you are halfway there’ by Theodore Roosvelt. It’s a very simple one, but it gives me support and strength.