Mihaela Caravan is a jewelry designer who has participated at AUTOR since the beginning of her career, winning the Public Choice Award in 2019. Her works are a meditation on the daily and emotional landscape that envelops big cities and their inhabitants. Exploring themes as individual and collective vulnerabilities, but also the secret life of inanimate objects, the designer impresses with manifest pieces that are essentially transformative stories that exceed the sum of their parts.
From the 28th to 29th of May, you can discover her collections at AUTOR 2022 – International Contemporary Jewelry Fair, which will take place at Oscar Maugsch Palace in the center of Bucharest.
1.Mihaela, you studied economics and worked as a buyer in interior design. How did you manage to move from an administrative environment to an artist life?
The transition came instinctively, as I never felt the right person for jobs that involved negotiation or intense economic environment.
I have always been passionate about art and have taken a different, unique and creative approach in my work. In 2017, I found the courage and enrolled in a jewelry course. I worked and learned a lot by myself, while working in my job on the same time. Working with my hands has always been a form of meditation and relaxation, and my dream was to make my own brand of jewelry. I am very lucky to have succeeded in fulfilling it
.2.What role has Berlin played in this transition? How did you adapt to the new foster city?
Berlin has played an important role in my transition. I get my inspiration from the interactions with the people I meet in this city, but also from the outside and inside weather, that I feel living here. I sense a mix of freedom of expression and suffering, a combination of old and new, an emotional space where you can be yourself, a place of extremes between summer and winter, relaxation and challenge, definitely an intense relationship.
The adaptation was not an easy one, but in the meantime Berlin became my home.
The adaptation was not an easy one, but in the meantime Berlin became my home.
3.How do you perceive the contemporary jewelry scene in Berlin compared to the one in Romania? Is there anything we should know about at the moment?
I’m not very anchored in the contemporary jewelry scene in Berlin.
4.Your pieces speak a lot about vulnerability, do you experiment with other creative means besides jewelry to express it?
I believe that expressing vulnerability is a good, natural and courageous thing. I try through my daily activities to keep my vulnerability as a form of normality and sincerity toward myself.
5.If you were to compare your creations with a film / book genre, what would you choose and why?
I hope that the people who look and wear my work can answer to this question. It is hard for me to draw such an analogy.
6.What is your favorite jewelry piece so far and why?
A pair of minimalist earrings made of silver and glass titled “I love my bubble”.
Their inspiration is a very personal message to me: The acceptance and beauty of being introverted.
Their inspiration is a very personal message to me: The acceptance and beauty of being introverted.
7.What have you prepared for the AUTOR 2022 edition?I will present “Together We Stand” – a collection that interprets the stages and subtleties of a relationship, as well as some unique pieces from my brand IIOO.jewelry.8.You have been with AUTOR since 2019, since the beginning of your journey into contemporary jewelry making, can you tell us what it means to you participating in such a fair?It is always a pleasure to participate to AUTOR, both due to the interaction with the audience who appreciate contemporary jewelry, but also to bond with colleagues from the industry.
