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desıgn & fashıon

they told me enamel was dead 

words by dilara 

photos by irem

This is a story of my starting journey as a professional jewellery designer in which I faced the realities of the industry.

Enameller's atelier

Enameller Arto Bora's atelier at Cağaloğlu. © Doku Magazine

After I graduated with idealistic hopes and enormous dreams last year, I started looking for a theme for my first jewellery collection. While I was thinking about techniques and materials to use, I remembered the necklaces I made for my thesis project. I was interested in fruit-themed jewellery designs at the time. But I didn't know what technique I was supposed to use. My teacher Nevin Cambaz, who made her jewellery collection using the enamelling techniques, told me that I should do the same. She sent me to a great enameller in Istanbul, Arto Bora. That's when I realized the art of enamel makes designs come to life. Captivated by the beauty of this art, in my first official collection, I also decided to use enamel as well.

"enamel ıs dead,"

he saıd.

When I was on my way to Arto on a rainy day, I ran into a friend who has a mass jewellery production company. I started talking enthusiastically about my new project. He interrupted me, unimpressed: “Enamel is dead.” Rainy weather makes me nervous and the words fell out of my friend’s mouth changed the mood even worse. “Enamel is dead,” he continued carelessly. “Polyester jewellery painting has recently come out instead, which gives the same effect, and it’s much cheaper.”

​

Either he has never seen an enamelled worked before, which was impossible, or this polyester painting was something amazing. But, as far as I know, enamel is a technique developed especially for metals and an art form with a long history stretching back to centuries ago. Exactly, what’s the history behind the polyester painting that could destroy enamel?

Enameller Arto Bora's atelier at Cağaloğlu. © Doku Magazine

I’m talking about an art form used even before Common Era. How come enamel is dead if it is still used by haute joaillerie and horlogerie brands, and how could someone from the industry say that? I felt really ignored and didn't have enough capacity to answer. Maybe, this polyester painting was really something and I was the ignorant fool? Or has it just become more popular compared to the hot enamelling technique so that the industry could keep up with the fast fashion.

With these questions in my head, I arrived at Arto’s atelier in Cağaloğlu. I watched him as he worked on some new projects while waiting. He and his assistant carefully combined the paint with powdered glass in a marble mortar, and painted the piece. The actual wonder happened after he put the painted piece to a tiny oven, which is called the enamelling kiln. And in a few minutes, the somewhat normal looking matte colours came to life. I told him what my friend said to me. "Yes, something like that has come out recently.” he answered sneering. I wondered why people were preferring this technique over hot enamel. He quickly explained, "They are making it very cheap like for a couple of liras. It is not nearly as good nor sturdy enough as a hot enamelled piece. It changes colour in a month or so and peels off like a nail polish. We call them the painters. You can put an enamelled jewellery in a box underground, even after 100 years later it would come out as new.''

"there are enam-elled jewellerıes datıng back to bce."

There are enamelled jewelleries dating back to before Common Era found in excavations. First I thought that it was first used during the 3rd or 4th centuries BC. But when I researched its history, I found The Metropolitan Museum of Art's written survey about the enamelling materials and techniques used in the past. The enamelled pieces shown in the survey were looking almost completely preserved, proving what Arto said earlier. According to the survey, they probably belonged to the Celtic or Romans and made as ornaments, using the enamel-champlevé technique between the 1st and 100th centuries BC. The hot enamelling technique has been used since the 1st century, which was even older than I knew.

In the course of history, the enamelling technique has comprehensively improved. When it is perfectly obvious that enamel is much more durable why are they still choosing to use the polyester painting over hot enamel? It may be cheaper but doesn’t your brand identity and awareness mean anything to you? As a jewellery designer, I wouldn’t like to present a work like this to a customer. As I heard Arto saying, ''Lately the demand for hot enamel has increased compared to the past, especially after people witnessed how the polyester painted jewelleries peeled off.'' It made me happy that the people realized the difference between the two techniques. I hope that my friend who killed an art form in a heartbeat will also see it soon.

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