NADINE AYSOY
“I would like to encourage women of all generations to explore the refined craftsmanship of wearable and playful high-end jewellery”
Born in Antwerp, the global capital of diamonds, Nadine Aysoy was surrounded by the sparkle of gemstones since her childhood. A famous diamond dealer, her grandfather, P. N. Ferstenberg, was honoured by the Belgian government with the title of ‘Dean of the Diamond Industry’ for his pursuit of excellence and service to the gem industry. As a child, Nadine often visited her grandfather’s office and was ever more bewitched by the glittering diamonds. It seemed that everything led to her developing a career in the jewellery industry, but as fate would have it this was not the case. Nadine’s family moved to Switzerland, when she was 14. She found herself in a country famous for its excellent banking system and decided to explore a new direction. Having graduated from a leading business school, she soon began working as an investment banker.
Nadine was first based in Zurich, then New York, before she moved to Los Angeles and finally settled down in London in 2003. No matter where she was and what she did, her passion for jewellery never waned. Whenever Nadine received jewellery as a gift, she more often than not reworked the design to suit her own taste. On more than one occasion, the designer removed the stones from the jewellery as she felt they were too old-fashioned. She gave each of these a “new life,” and even re-designed her engagement ring – four times.
In 2008, Nadine returned to Switzerland, where she finally had the opportunity to realise her dream: making jewellery. As a perfectionist, she started out by taking up gemmology courses and later trained in jewellery design. Once she began working on her first collection, Nadine went to Antwerp to meet with high-end jewellery maestros, who were her grandfather’s friends and acquaintances. Their expert craftsmanship in jewellery technique and attention to detail were the exact qualities that she had been seeking out for her own artistic endeavours. The designer handpicks each gemstone for her jewellery, while a team of skilled craftsmen at the ateliers in Antwerp handcraft all the pieces, even the most complex, in line with her creative ethos.
Comments