My love for jewellery started when I was a kid. I remember collecting pieces that I’d find or were given to me as a gift. I would store them in a bunch of tiny odd boxes and cherish every single one of them like the treasure they were. As a teenager I remember how much of a hassle was removing my jewellery and putting it back on after showering, as my arms and neck were covered in them - at that time it was the more the better and I must confess I still am like this sometimes. Then and now I am deeply attached to every piece of jewellery I ever owned, each tells a story, wether about how it came to me or what I lived while wearing it.
But my passion for jewellery making dates back to 2016 when I was travelling Australia and living a very sweet bohemian life. I was staying in a farmworkers caravan park in Bowen, in the region of Queensland, right in front of one the most beautiful bays my eyes have ever had the chance to witness. I know everyone that lived there at that time, remembers it as some of the best periods of their lives as the energy, the people, the beauty all around us created a truly magical atmosphere.. and it was then that I made my first pieces with what I could gather from around me. I remember perfectly the first necklace I ever made for myself, with a tiny crystal quartz bought at the market, some cotton cord I recycled from an old choker and some black wire I got my hands on somehow.
There I knew I finally found my purpose in life, which was precisely the goal of my Australian quest. Not only did I like the objects of my creation but I fell in love with the feeling it gave me as I was doing it.
Creating, then and now, brings me a sense of inner peace I hardly find elsewhere, a sense of wholeness and realisation.
Over half a year later, after travelling around a bit more, I flew to India where I took my first ever silversmithing classes with a local master in his tiny workshop. My love for the craft only deepened, but I surely didn’t have the means back then to take more classes nor buy the material and equipment needed, so when after a few more adventures I moved to Italy, I started making jewellery with whatever I could.
I taught myself the technique of macrame, wire work and beading and experimented with what I had brought from my travels.
From the region of Chianti I went down to the island of Sicily to sell my creations. My partner in crime at the time and I had up-cycled two vintage suitcases into jewellery displays and made a mobile stand out of stuff we found on the street. The summer was pretty successful, I was pleased to see people falling in love with what I had created and it comforted me in the idea that I was indeed on the right path. The year that followed I kept selling on the streets, beaches and markets of Italy, England, Mexico and Colombia.
Although I was living a free life, and my soul was happy, I still was dreaming of making another kind of jewellery, one that could fulfil my creativity endlessly.
It’s finally in January 2019 that I was given the chance to enter the silversmithing school Metallo Nobile in Florence, Italy, for a period of 5 month. Never in my life have I felt so grateful. There I learned the bases of metalsmithing, engraving, and the ancient technique of the lost wax casting.
From then on I have done everything in order to realise my dream and bring Bohaze to how I envisioned it. I worked small jobs I hated to put money on the side to buy myself equipment and material, and even went back to live in France at my parents at some point, after over ten years abroad, to be able to make it happen. It wasn’t easy for the reasons you may imagine, and it also felt like a huge step back, but eventually, it worked out.
Today, my workshop is finally up and running and I am creating fine jewellery with all my heart and soul. I believe in quality over quantity and am thriving for authenticity, in this sense, each piece I make is crafted with great care in order to last, more than a lifetime.
I hope some find its way, from my hands to yours,
Théa
