To describe her childhood, between Denmark, Israel and Greece, where her mother, father and grandparents respectively originate, Orit Elhanati pauses, then chooses a term: “chaotic”. “I have always been between two cultures, two tastes. I was always too Scandinavian for the Israelis, too Middle Eastern for the Danes. Before launching my brand in 2013, the same was true for jewelry: I found everything either too minimalist or too ornamental,” she says from her Copenhagen studio.
Since then, she has found a middle way, a very pure hybrid, in her jewelry collections, where the delicacy of the forms, without flashiness, marries her favorite metal, this warm yellow gold and popular in the countries. Mediterranean. This one, which sometimes encounters black spinels, coral pearls, malachite, diamonds or opals, is as if cut into raw nuggets, slabs or rudimentary medallions, hammered, never smooth.
“I like the idea of sculpting an authentic, traditional, almost antique jewel. I don’t do any sketches. I rather try on wax and metal prototypes to intuitively obtain a relief, a texture. These are forms that can be inspired by nature, as recently by a mountain on the Greek island of Milos. My team makes fun of me because every time I have the ambition to develop a more classic, symmetrical jewel, it’s a failure! »
Already appreciated by loyal customers, Orit Elhanati’s collections speak more and more to men. When, in 2021, his label began to be distributed on the high-end retail site Mr Porter, “everything was gone in a week”, she wonders again.
On sale in Paris at White Bird Jewellery. whitebirdjewellery.com elhanati.com
