Marta Roura Castellò takes us across the ancient Mediterranean world, its peoples and their “treasures” of art and jewellery with her Transparent Sculptural Jewelry.
I wanted to know more about the designer, the architect, and especially the woman, so I interviewed Marta Roura Castellò having a taza de chocolate caliente y churros. Here we go to Spain…
How and when was Transparent Sculptural Jewelry born?
I started designing my first jewellery in 2004 when I was pregnant of my baby girl, initially for myself since I couldn’t find jewellery I really liked. But my brand was really born in 2012, when, after going one step further and learning ancient jewellery techniques, I started to make my own collections. Nowadays you can find my work on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook, and I’m working to have my Transparent Sculptural Jewelry online shop open for 2017.
Could you tell us something about your background?
My name is Marta Roura Castelló and I’m an architect, interior designer and contemporary glass artist, born in Valencia and living in Barcelona for 25 years now. I’ve been designing furniture, stained glass, textiles and wall art for my architectural, and interior projects and design exhibitions. Also during the last years, I started designing and making jewellery, activity which allows me to connect several passions as: archaeology, ancient jewellery, sculpture, love for gemstones and nature.
My jewellery has been shown and can be purchased, in art galleries, as well as special stores and jewellery stores. It will be shown in the Autumn/Winter season at BCM Art Gallery, Barcelona and some pop-up events.
I like having customers meeting me and responding to their questions about my collections and designs. Also I like to recommend them which pieces are more suitable for them, according to the shape of their faces, eyes, hair and skin colour, height and figure and clothing style.
I like having customers meeting me and responding to their questions about my collections and designs. Also I like to recommend them which pieces are more suitable for them, according to the shape of their faces, eyes, hair and skin colour, height and figure and clothing style.
When have you met your passion for creations?
I’ve always loved creating since I was a little child! I’ve always drawn and painted. There was a time when I felt I needed to pass the limits of paint and needed to work with the light passing through, so I studied and designed with glass, which is not far to working with gems, metals, texturing & polishing tools and soldering.
Since young, I’ve traveled and lived in different countries in Europe, America, and Africa, as a student and worker. Those experiences have had a great influence on me and have allowed me to appreciate the value of the different cultures and their unique art manifestations; feeling that great civilizations had their greatest achievements both in the larger scale: architectural and engineering, and in the smaller scale: jewellery.
I always visit archaeological sites, architecture and museums when I travel, and those passions definitely have had a great impact on me revisiting and transferring them into my creations, in a personal way, especially into my collections inspired by ancient Mediterranean cultures, such as Minoan, Greeks, Roman, Phoenician, Iberian… but also by many other which I also study & admire.
What’s your goal?
My business goal right now is to increase the network of retail shops and galleries I work with, (also in different countries), raise my visibility on the media, magazines, etc…and collaborate with fashion bloggers and models interested in my brand and designs.
My creative goal is to continue on designing and offering very unique and authentic new collections using richer stones and materials but keeping an affordable price, so that anyone who likes them can purchase one of my pieces.
My creative goal is to continue on designing and offering very unique and authentic new collections using richer stones and materials but keeping an affordable price, so that anyone who likes them can purchase one of my pieces.
How do you imagine your typical customer?
My client is a special woman, with personality, who knows exactly what she wants and as well can dress chic & casual, as sophisticated & elegant depending on the occasion. A romantic, sensual woman who feels love for modern jewellery but also has a passion for ancient cultures.
A bohemian free soul, curious woman who loves to travel to faraway lands and learn about exotic places and people.
A sensitive woman, who respects and enjoys her time surrounded by the beauty of nature.
An ethical buyer who prefers to buy less, but things that she feels an emotional connection to and make her feel happy regardless the trends.
A feminine woman who knows that jewellery, since people started adorning their bodies in ancient times, has been a direct expression of herself of who she is, an amulet, a protection, a connection with the materials it’s made of: stones, gold; a connection to the gods, a connection to our mother nature.
A woman who knows that the real luxury is exclusivity, to feel she is wearing a special jewel created and handcrafted by expert artisans only for her, with love, and will see none else wearing.
A bohemian free soul, curious woman who loves to travel to faraway lands and learn about exotic places and people.
A sensitive woman, who respects and enjoys her time surrounded by the beauty of nature.
An ethical buyer who prefers to buy less, but things that she feels an emotional connection to and make her feel happy regardless the trends.
A feminine woman who knows that jewellery, since people started adorning their bodies in ancient times, has been a direct expression of herself of who she is, an amulet, a protection, a connection with the materials it’s made of: stones, gold; a connection to the gods, a connection to our mother nature.
A woman who knows that the real luxury is exclusivity, to feel she is wearing a special jewel created and handcrafted by expert artisans only for her, with love, and will see none else wearing.
What inspires you the most?
I am inspired by really so many things that I like and mix all of them like a cocktail. But mainly, my greatest sources of inspiration are:
Ancient jewellery; it has inspired my collections such as: Akrotiri, Perla Nova, Gold, Fenicia & Fata Morgana…
Nature, botany, water life; they have inspired my collections such as: Antic Trèsor, Forest & Acqua…
The beauty of natural stones and materials, gems and metals, raw crystals, leather, textiles… I am inspired by their colours, textures, shapes, translucency or opacity, proportions, faceting, polishing, everything in them talks to me and leads me to combine them one way or another. They have inspired my following collections: Pietra Única, Crystals & Río Turquesa…
I like to explain, through my Instagram & Facebook accounts, short stories that reflect the inspiration of my collections.
Also I usually combine my pieces with carefully chosen outfits from my favourite designers, real costume artists; and images that make the pieces more understandable and allow my clients to easily see how to wear them and accessorize them. It’s quite a lot of work, but I’m having an amazing feedback and see people appreciate it and get inspired by it.
Also I usually combine my pieces with carefully chosen outfits from my favourite designers, real costume artists; and images that make the pieces more understandable and allow my clients to easily see how to wear them and accessorize them. It’s quite a lot of work, but I’m having an amazing feedback and see people appreciate it and get inspired by it.
Do you have an inspiring place, where you create or sketch the product?
I don’t have an inspiring place where I create, in fact I’ve worked my jewelry in different studios & ateliers. Also part of the process is made specifically by skilled artisans who make the lost wax casting or the stone setting.
The creative process is like building a pyramid. It consists in being persistent, in piling up pieces every day until you reach the top and right when you put the last piece everything falls apart and crumbles to the ground.
That moment is like a waterfall of ideas. My jewellery design process is very intuitive, experimental and non-sketched.
Since everything else I create is so drawn and planned in anticipation, when I make my jewellery all the fun is to work freely not knowing where the process will end. When I’m done I see that the pieces have a connection between them and remind me of a certain atmosphere or culture. Then a new collection is born!
That moment is like a waterfall of ideas. My jewellery design process is very intuitive, experimental and non-sketched.
Since everything else I create is so drawn and planned in anticipation, when I make my jewellery all the fun is to work freely not knowing where the process will end. When I’m done I see that the pieces have a connection between them and remind me of a certain atmosphere or culture. Then a new collection is born!
Do you have a project for the near future?
Yes, right now I’m working on two new Collections for the Autumn/Winter 2016/17 season, where I try to capture the spirit of ancient eastern Greece and the grandeur of mysterious ancient imperial China, with carefully chosen sardonyx and hand carved jade. They will be available in some pop-up events this Winter.
My aim is to provide my clients with exclusive artisan jewellery that not only will lift their outfits and their beauty but also, Valentina, in your own poetic words “give them an emotional way of living the past in the present, dreaming of fascinating lands with eyes wide open”…
I imagine Marta: the elegance, the softness, the open and wide culture, those exact features distinguishing her creations, I see them reflected in her, combined with an innate curiosity. Transparent Sculptural Jewelry lines are vibrant and precious thanks to their message and unique character as stones veins.
I imagine Marta as a child, she had to be an equally unique little girl, a dreamer with crayons ready to run through a paper sheet.
Waiting to embark myself on a new journey, this time toward the East, with Dragón y Fénix and Ephesos, I keep dreaming while browsing the Transparent Sculptural Jewelry interactive board and Marta’s inspirational collages.
Valentina Chirico aka Valens
