Nora Kovats

Jewellery maker

©Roberto Ferraz

©Nora Kovats

A balancing act

Nora specialises in painting and enamelled jewellery
Her creations are local and universal
She embraces the spontaneity of enamelling

Since her early childhood days in South Africa, Nora Kovats has been surrounded by crafts. “In my family there was always this sense of being able to learn to make anything you really apply yourself to, and then honing and perfecting that craft, and finding a deep sense of meaning in doing so. "Thus, the decision to specialise in one small but mesmerising aspect of apparel: the adornment of our bodies with precious and story-laden objects we call jewellery, came as no surprise. During six years of studies in goldsmithing and metalwork at the University of Stellenbosch, completed with a Master’s degree under Carine Terreblanche, Nora developed her unique visual language that brings together botanical structures with the ephemeral magic of enamelling which she has continued to cultivate ever since.

Interview

©Roberto Ferraz

What role does timing play in your craft?: The exact moment of perfect, glossy fusion relies on timing – in my case never governed by orderly timekeeping, but rather by an enigmatic internal clock that relies on ‘gut feeling’ to gauge when a piece is ready. This gloriously ‘messy’, spontaneous side of the enamelling process subverts the scientific, grid-like standards of modern routine.
Where does this way of creation lead you?: By using symbolically laden resources and forms, I aim to create something that has become precious above all because of its uniqueness – a distinctiveness born from my personal intrinsic visual language and the meticulousness of my labour.
Does the value not lie in the material?: No, real value in this fleeting world of ours does not only lie in gold or gemstones, but in human time, in devotion, passion and sincerity. I believe that we enshrine some part of ourselves within an object if we spend hours labouring on it.
Would you consider you pieces as time capsules?: When creating a piece, the artist pores over the small artwork in such a way that the centre of his or her world temporarily shrinks to a physical space measured in centimetres, but the metaphorical and imaginative space may be vast: a whole world of symbolism and emotion.

Nora Kovats is a master artisan: she began her career in 2013 and she started teaching in 2016