bio:

Μaria Koutmani was born in 1967 in Greece where she lives and works as an English teacher. Her true identity is revealed through jewelry making which is a way of making art and communicating with the world. She attended Krama Institute and Anamma studio in Athens as well as seminars on contemporary jewelry with Jorge Manila and Marie Ishikawa. Maria likes experimenting with all sorts of materials and finds inspiration in nature, literature and philosophy. In her work both geometric and organic forms combine to challenge the unexpected. She has taken part in many group exhibitions in Greece and abroad and had a solo exhibition at Lalaounis Jewelry Museum in Athens.

statement:

In today’s world and our consumer society beauty is immensely appreciated and present everywhere. In many cases though , beauty manifests as an end in itself with no connection to a deeper substance, like a superficial coating round the absence of meaning. The collection “without” is inspired by flowers , a significant example of natural beauty, and is made of leftovers of canvas used for banners for advertising. In the center of the ‘flowers’ instead of a pistil and stamens which are the reproductive parts of plants, there are empty bezels representing the absence of essence, in this case making them barren, with no perspective of new life and evolution.