Currently on display at IaoHin Gallery in Macau is a collection of exquisite amber jewellery pieces, crafted by award-winning jewellery designer, Dorota Cenecka.
Dorota was recently in the region, showing her brand-new collection Time’s Up in the Designer Gallery at the June Hong Kong Jewellery Fair. Her designs use natural Baltic amber and are all hand-made in her own workshop in Gdansk, Poland.
The designer has been working with amber since she was just 16 years old. After a long period working with a commercial manufacturer of amber jewellery, she decided to go out on her own five years ago, and the results are certainly impressive.
Having created a number of beautiful collections, her latest is based around the theme of ‘Old Masters’: hand carved cameos in amber depicting classic paintings by, amongst others, Pablo Picasso and Johannes Vermeer.
“These were not necessarily done for commercial purposes, but simply out of a passion for the project,” notes Dorota, commenting on the fact that some of the pieces are larger than what might be traditionaly worn as jewellery. “But I wanted to show people amber in different forms and what can be done with it. I see it more as art than jewellery, a collector’s piece to admire,” she adds.
For Cenecka, the inspiration for her jewellery pieces is everywhere, but the size and shape of the stone are determining factors in what she ultimately creates.
“Amber is very malleable and very easy to work with. Some pieces are highly polished, some are left more raw,” she explains.
Another of Dorota’s recognisable collections are her beautifully ornate Lilies, each one taking between 2-3 days to complete.
Some of Dorota’s pieces are made from White amber, known as the ‘queen of amber’ as it makes up only one percent of all amber in the world.
She also likes to use red or cherry amber, which is also rare in its natural form. The industry has a standardised grading scale and the price of her pieces is based on type of stone used as well as the size of the stone – bigger stones are of course more rare, and large single pieces like some of Dorota’s are very hard to find in their natural state.
Dorota sources her amber from the Baltic region, as this is the best for use in jewellery.
“Natural Baltic amber has less natural oils and is slightly harder, so you can get a really good polish and it retains it’s sheen over time,” notes the artist. “Dominican amber one the other hand, is more oily and tends to lose its polish more over time.”
The longevity of her pieces is very important for Dorota. She always uses high quality amber, and doesn’t use any synthetic stones or gold plated silver.
“Amber is formed from a living thing, 40 million years ago. I don’t want my pieces to lose their quality over time,” she says.
In a rather male dominated industry, Dorota herself is a bit of a rarity, much like the stones she works with. She clearly puts her heart and soul into the work, and her determined character comes through in every piece. And despite the value and rarity of the material she uses, she is not afraid to start all over again if the piece doesn’t feel right.
This commitment to quality and beauty has seen her find great success and recognition, not only in Europe, but also here in Asia.
“I’ve been visiting this region for a few years now and today over 90 percent of my work is now sold in Asia.”
