About
ORIGINS
The origins of Alkemeya lie at the crossroads between the mysticism of past civilisations and the beauty of the natural world. As our lives unfold, moment by moment, and the flow of things sweeps and moves around us and within us.
Alkemeya attempts to encapsulate the beauty and stillness of a moment captured in eternity. The ancient Greek adagio “Τὰ πάντα ῥεῖ” is expressed in each Alkemeya design embracing the continuous flux of nature and growth into an elated state of purity and harmony.
A NOTE FROM THE DESIGNER
As a child I used to look through my grandmothers dressing table drawers, finding all sorts of treasures and precious stones that were all that was left from her life in Africa. A life that was revived in the bed time stories she used to tell me.Stories of a far away world so vivid and so different from my own. My favourite piece was a golden chain bracelet coin called ‘Tabora’; featuring an elephant dating back to 1916 which belonged to my great-grandmother. The Tabora coin has a very interesting story as it was appointed a WWI wartime emergency coinage. It was minted by a German Bank in an adapted train carriage at Tabora , following the fall of Germany's major port, Dar-es-Salaam, to the Allies.
Fascinated
by mythical stories of the past, I became passionate about storytelling through
theatre performance.
I studied
Literature and Drama at Queen Mary University of London, Method acting at RADA
and obtained a Masters Degree in Cultural and Creative Industries from King’s
College continuing to explore the inner psychological worlds of different
characters in literary plays and novel adaptations.
After nine
years in London, a beautiful but unexpected acquaintance led me to Paris where
I discovered the aesthetic values and style of the French. I had the luck to
live in the most quaint neighbourhood of Paris, the Marais, where I was
inspired by the charm of Rue Charlot , Rue de Sévigné and Rue Pastourelle, and
got acquainted with the local Parisian artisanal products.
After a
couple of years in Paris I became a mother of two girls and I spent long hours
thinking of the day that I would be offering my daughters unique jewellery
pieces just like my grandmother offered me. This was the initial spark that
inspired to create my own pieces derived from my own personal stories.
To me the
eternal value of jewellery is a symbol of ever-lasting love and now that my
grandma has passed away, I feel her presence in the stories that each of her
jewellery piece carries.
The name
Alkemeya was born out of my love for long lost civilisations and philosophies.
The word encapsulates the spirituality of the branch of natural philosophy
called Alchemy. Inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology, Kēme means black earth
and refers to the fertile and auriferous soil of the Nile Valley. Alchemists
attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials into noble metals
particularly gold through a seemingly magical process. The perfection of the
human body and soul was thought to result from the ‘alchemical Magnus Opus’ and,
in the Hellenistic and Western mystery tradition, the achievement of ‘gnosis’.
To me Alchemy is an allegory for the magical process of jewellery making. Each Alkemēya collection has a story and each piece has a symbolic meaning giving special properties to its owner.
Daphne Tsitsiliani