Transforming life into jewellery
- Angelos has been collecting tools since the age of 12
- He now transforms organic materials into art jewellery
- His most spectacular pieces are made out of mushrooms
Construction tools have always been Angelos Konstantakatos’s passion. At 12 years old, he spent his first allowance on an electric drill, the first item in his collection of 6,000 tools, which has been growing ever since. A few years later, he started making tools like knives from scratch, just before taking up contemporary art jewellery classes to learn new techniques. Eventually, jewellery making won him over. Angelos now creates singular and offbeat jewellery pieces by combining innovative techniques he has invented with traditional ones. Since 2014, he’s been using organic materials like mushrooms, seaweed and fruit, which he washes, dries, desiccates, neutralises, stabilises and hardens, so as to transform them into marvellous jewels.
Interview
- What excites you the most about your craft?
- I love the freedom it gives me. Unlike architecture – which I originally studied – art jewellery ignores rules and traditions. I’m allowed to do whatever, no matter how odd or progressive.
- When did you decide to use mushrooms for jewellery?
- The idea to turn mushrooms into jewels was born over a dinner with friends. We were eating mushrooms and, sort of like a bet with myself, I promised to make a piece of jewellery out of them.
- What fuels your creations?
- Nature; when I look around, I see materials and tools. I borrow textures and forms, mix them with silver or titanium and adapt them to my ideas. I think of it as capturing a moment of evolution and merging it with thoughts and emotions.
- What is a secret about your craft?
- It may take months for a jewel to be completed. During that time, some mushrooms might be ruined, which is why I choose those that look perfect to begin with. Not all mushrooms or fruit can be transformed.
Angelos Konstantakatos is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2014 and he started teaching in 2019
Works
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Angelos Konstantakatos
