Natural reflections in titanium
- Nicola has been making jewellery since the 1980s
- She works with titanium to achieve vibrantly coloured pieces
- Her work blends intuition, curiosity and hard-won know-how
Nicola Heidemann is a self-taught jeweller who began her journey into the craft in 1985, by working with scraps of copper and brass. Through trial and error, she continuously expanded her creative field, deepening her understanding of materials and forms. Nicola's main source of inspiration is nature, its shapes and the colours that surround her. Colour plays a vital role in her work, despite the absence of colourful gemstones in her pieces. "After discovering titanium, I became captivated by the metal’s possibilities and its vibrant colour spectrum," she explains. Today, Nicola's jewellery is about making metal colourful. She creates pieces in shades of blue, teal, green and yellow that feel like an organic extension of the natural world around us.
Interview
- Why did you become a jewellery maker?
- I was always fascinated by small shapes and collected pebbles, leaves, sticks and small things that could be stuffed into my pockets. Feeling structures, surfaces and shapes with my hands allows me to understand materials and forms. The reason why I started to make jewellery was because I am at home with pieces on a small scale.
- What inspires your creative process?
- Nature has always been my main source of inspiration. My creative process often starts with the idea of a colour combination, a surface and a shape, with a piece’s function sometimes coming later. Pouring my knowledge, wisdom and experience into a project, but also letting go of control, is magic.
- What are your favourite materials and techniques?
- I love colour, but I felt constrained by the tradition of adding gemstones to my pieces. Discovering that titanium can develop beautiful colours through heat treatment freed up so much for my pieces, within the characteristics of the material. It taught me to listen to it and to be patient.
- How do you know when a piece is ready?
- I can just feel it – it may take days, or sometimes years, but when a piece is done it takes on something of its own, as though new and independent. With time, jewellery becomes connected to feelings and events, and the owner of a piece can imbue it with their own story.
Nicola Heidemann is an expert artisan: she began her career in 1985
Where
Nicola Heidemann
