Irene Kravtsova
Meet the Designer-Artist
Where do you live?
I was born and brought up in Belarus, but now live in New England in an amazingly beautiful town - Londonderry, New Hampshire.
What inspires you as a designer-artist?
There are so many things that inspire me: nature, music, emotions, state symbols of United States, the power of color combination and many more.
What medium do you work with mostly?
I mostly work with seed beads. Love how these tiny glass beauties come together into an amazing jewelry piece. Working with them is kind of meditation for me.
Why did you become enchanted with this style of jewelry-making?
Before jewelry-making I was obsessed with crochet, and one day I saw the necklace that was made in seed bead crochet technique. This was the beginning. After learning lots of seed bead crochet techniques I moved to bead weaving and bead embroidery.
Where and how do you sell your jewelry?
I do both: selling and donating my jewelry pieces. There are 4 local places I was invited to sell in: Manchester Craft Market, Coffeeberries Londonderry, yoga studio The Hidden Studio Lifestyle Boutique and Framers Market in Manchester, New Hampshire. I also love to work on custom orders.
What is the name of the piece you submitted with your success story?
What inspired this design?
Moving to New Hampshire is the best thing that happened with me. Nature in this state is amazing: gorgeous mountains, amazing forests and trails, blue clear lakes, beautiful ocean shore - all this fills my soul with peace and inspiration! But when I found the state symbols the idea was born in my mind - to show everybody how marvelous New Hampshire is because my research showed that most of the state residents have no idea about their state's symbols. In my necklace I unite some of them: smoky quartz - state gem, Karner blue butterfly - state butterfly, Ladybug - state insect, Lilac - state flower, 603 - state code, state seal and tartan of New Hampshire.
How did it come together?
Sometimes I make a plan and sketch, but mostly after picking the central element of the design picture of the final product just pops up in my head. And there are lots of changes along the way.