Salome Kobulashvili is a sculptor and jeweler from Georgia. It happened to be that Salome is a granddaughter of King Erekle, and the last residential house of her ancestors was transferred to the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. Her works are created by mixed media, using mineral stones collected from different parts of Georgia keeping their authentical shape and texture, also using different materials such as smalt, clay, bronze, and silver. Her background in stomatology gave her the ability to see the little details differently and play with them in a creative way.
"When the universe was created, the word was first. That's what happened that evening. A friend of mine comes in and tells me, I have a great idea for you, make a sculpture in jewelry. And that word was enough to make a complete visualization of the idea. At home, I had silver spoons given to me by my grandmother, and I had plasticine, I sat down and started sculpting. Movement is very important to me in sculpture and getting the desired item turned out to be a serious driving, adrenaline-producing force. Because sculpture was once often used in jewelry as a cameo, I did not want to repeat it. I was more fascinated by the moving body, the expression, and the emotion, so I decided to give the products a different look than the cameo. I love sapphire very much, so some of the rings are created using sapphire and some coral. Georgian women were very fond of coral jewelry and it found the use in my works. My source of inspiration is my dental office, the coral usually worn by women in a piece of round shape, but it has become a source of widely opening the wings of my creativity. It is perfectly cultivated by a boring machine. There are lots of more inspirations. The first push in creating sculptures was Svaneti, its amazing Nature, I brought the stones completely intuitively. Every evening I would sit and look at these stones, and I suddenly realized that a sculpture was being created one by one. So through experimentation, I got a new character every time. I love my uncle's yard very much, he was the greatest stained glass artist, Vakhtang Kokiashvili, the land is full of pieces of smalt, which became a source of great inspiration and also, and the sea is also a great treasure. Most are made of silver because it is a pure material that goes very well with jewelry. So, you see, the rings choose the materials by themselves."
