I decided along with our article about 5 of our favourite sustainable jewellery brand to interview them. Here is our interview with Maria: owner of Ditale Studio.
Tell us a bit more about you and your brand:
“My name is Maria and I am the owner of Ditale Studio a slow fashion brand of handcrafted jewellery. My background is in Information Technology and especially in Education Technology and Society.
I worked as a high school teacher for nearly 16 years and decided in 2018 to quit my teaching job and focus on creating an online business of handcrafted jewellery.
I was always a creative spirit and had side hustles since 2009. My first business was in 2009, embellishing and altering plain t-shirts with designs and different dye techniques. I first started gifting them to friends and family and then people start asking for more so I opened my first Etsy shop in 2010 where I would sell my crafts there.
Jewellery design has always been a passion of mine since I was raised in a family of jewellers and especially expert technicians in the field. So together with my father, we started in 2018 Ditale Studio a jewellery brand based on my designs, using ethically sourced and recycled silver and gold. “
Where do you find your materials?
“Our material is mostly from old jewellery and we do the melting process in our workshop twice a year. All of our gemstones are lab-created and come from our suppliers from Cyprus, Greece and Belgium.”
What is the goal for your brand?
“My goal is to offer people the choice of good quality jewellery that will stand the test of time. That’s why our designs are timeless as we don’t like to follow trends. Investing in a good quality piece of jewellery is something unique. My goal was also to make people appreciate the love and care is put into a handmade piece, where everyone involved in this process gets paid a fair wage, appreciate craftsmanship again.”
Turning my passion and creativity into a business also created a freedom in my life.
“In September 2019 I started helping other people who wanted to start their online business and a new passion was born, I guess like they say once a teacher always a teacher. “
What is the inspiration for your designs?
“My designs are inspired by the simplicity and the perfect imperfection of nature along with the creativity of the human mind reveal a dual magical world.”
“The elements of nature and the world’s cultural heritage are depicted with creativity and love along with simplicity and minimalism on fine metals.”
What is your design process?
“I design on paper and afterwards, we make our samples until we finalise the end result. All samples end up back in our recycle stash. If we are ok with the design we create our sample on a low-quality silver and use it every time an order comes in.
Sometimes we cut our pieces at a primary stage and add the finishing touches when we have an order. We stock up, only with our stockists and still our quantities are limited since everything is made by hand.
About the maker:
“Stelios Neocleous is Maria’s father and the maker of all Ditale Studio’s products. With over 40 years of experience, Stelios expertly handcrafts all the pieces in his goldsmith/silversmith workshop, where he has worked since 1982. He is one of the last craftsmen and artisans of his generation in the old town of Nicosia. His job is his passion, and throughout the years has taught many apprentices the art of jewellery making.”
I hope you liked this interview. Here is Ditale Studio website Go check out the article on 5 of our favourite sustainable jewellery brand.
