DTF Magazine’s Locals column features new and niche local brands. SPOTS is a new jewelry brand founded by Tania Kremen and Olya Vynohradova. They have already released two drops: LYUK EDITION dedicated to city manholes and PARKAN EDITION dedicated to PO-2 concrete fences.
The peculiarity of the brand’s jewelry is not only the shape, but also the material. The SPOTS team works with silver in three variations: gilded, blackened and rhodium-plated. DTF Magazine asked Olya Vynohradova more about the new brand and its concept
About the brand
— Why did you decide to make your own brand?
— A few years ago, Tania and I worked for a glossy publication: she was in charge of shooting for the fashion section, and I was in charge of content in general.
However, each of us has considerable experience in various creative fields: media, film and music video production, stylization and clothing design, marketing, production, illustration, etc. At one point there was a desire to implement some of my ideas in a joint project. In our opinion, jewelry is a convenient way to embody some kind of message in a tangible form.
— Where did you study jewelry making?
— I study at a private school in Kyiv. Given the availability of many materials, techniques and unattainable peaks in this field, learning is a process for which there is no finish line.
— What is the concept of SPOTS? And what sets it apart from other brands?
— The concept of the project is to «move» objects from one context to another in order to emphasize their beauty, which usually goes unnoticed in hectic city life. We sincerely believe that utilitarian geometry is aesthetic and inspiring.
About the first drops
— Tell us more about your first drops.
— The first drop, LYUK EDITION, dedicated to the city manholes, includes pendants and bracelets in two variants — classic lattice and with the inscription «Kyiv». To make them look more like real manholes, we partially blackened the silver. One more nuance: we intentionally made the bracelets lighter than the pendants.
The second drop, PARKAN EDITION, is about a concrete fence, which you can see in every corner of our country and, if you wish, even purchase for yourself. We made two variants of the ring based on the main element — a more classic narrow one and a textured wide one.
— In your instagram you describe the idea of jewelry as «jewelry with a local cultural vibe», but manholes with lattice are not only found in Kyiv and Ukraine, and the design of PO-2 fences in general was developed by a Moscow architect who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s. Why did you choose these particular designs? And how do these designs reproduce local cultural vibe?
— These designs are about the cities we live in, grew up in, and once left for various reasons. They are about the objects around us, about the places that have been fixed in our memories.
The aesthetics and sociocultural meaning of the concrete fence have long gone beyond what was put into it by its designers. Some people walked past it for ten years on their way to school, and that is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase «school years». For others, the fence was the first platform for public expression of thoughts, sentiments, preferences, or even creative pursuits. Many people will find their own association with the past, which they are not nostalgic about, but respect as part of their experience and do not deny it.
In the case of our project, the rings based on this fence are a purposeful aestheticization of the familiar experience of any of us.
We believe that the manhole is a symbol of the city — no matter whether it is in Ukraine or outside of it. It is both a local history inherent in a particular function and space, and something that is a unifying link for any other urban location in the world.
About future drops and solo projects
— Will there be other designs from the first drops other than those already shown on Instagram?
— Yes, of course. The project is just at the beginning of its journey and the process of designing new jewelry and its production is ongoing.
— You also have the brand olgika.jewellery, right? Why did you launch two jewelry brands almost simultaneously?
— Each of us has other activities and projects outside of SPOTS: jewelry, art, film, charity, etc. SPOTS is our common business, the result of total synergy and understanding of each other.
Olgika exists as my «jewelry practice», which has a very different format, concept and processes.
We launched each project when we felt it could not be postponed any longer.
Where to buy: SPOTS Instagram
Prices:
- Silver ohorozha ring — 3300 UAH, gilded silver ohorozha ring — 3700 UAH.
- Manhole pendant with a lattice — 6500 UAH, a bracelet with a manhole — 5300 UAH.
