Sevan Bıçakçı

Figure 2.12 - Bıçakçı, S., (2011). Gold ring with micro painting, intaglio and stone setting

Figure 2.13 - Bıçakçı, S., (2014). Gold and silver ring showing off micro mosaic and intaglio.

Sevan Bıçakçı's rings capture so beautifully the essence of Turkish Islamic architecture, which is the beautiful Masjids, the calligraphy and the scene of the land. Bıçakçı uses some complicated techniques like intaglio carving, micro-mosaic and miniature paintings in his pieces (see figure 2.12 and 2.13). Each ring is hand made from start to finish and can take on average two to three months to complete (Doulton, M 2011).

What I like about his pieces is that they tell a story or flaunt a scene of an ideal day around a Turkish Masjid, which can be quite poetic. If I were to describe his pieces, I would say that Bıçakçı's jewellery is like miniature sculptures or landscape/scenery painting.

Bıçakçı's jewellery depicts Islamic architecture in a very literal way; it is self-referential. Since I began researching for this paper, I have been thinking of different ways that architecture can influence the design and construction of a piece of jewellery. I thought it might not be interesting to make miniature models of architectural structures because it would not be a creative piece. After seeing some of Bıçakçı's pieces and learning about how much skill and time goes into creating such a piece of jewellery, I see how it can be interesting to represent an object by recreating it in a different form and on a different scale. 

I do not intend to use the techniques that Bıçakçı has used to create his pieces, but I do want my jewellery to tell a story just as his jewellery does. I will also be open to creating pieces that are scaled up or down versions of the original.