In a new book by Melanie Grant, Brazilian designer Silvia Furmanovich is properly put on a pedestal as one of the great jewelry artists of this age, who has used gemstones together with her knowledge of technique to create otherworldly jewelry.
Furmanovich is celebrated as artist, jeweler, and cultural phenomenon in Journey of a Jeweler, Grant’s 256-page book out today from Rizzoli that’s part memoir, part photo album, and part art monograph.
According to Rizzoli, Furmanovich is a master who uses unconventional materials—such as bamboo, woven fibers, and wood marquetry—alongside rubies, emeralds, and diamonds to create contemporary art. She innovates as much as she honors ancient techniques, which Furmanovich has learned from Indian miniature painters, Japanese bamboo weavers, and Uzbek textile artists.
“This book is a journey into the way I see the world—not just through jewels but through textures, traditions, and stories gathered along the way,” Furmanovich tells JCK. “Each page is a map of memories transformed into creations.”
A foreword by Town & Country editor Stellene Volandes highlights her friendship with Furmanovich and admiration for the jeweler’s creations—namely, the rings, pendants, brooches, and earrings. Furmanovich also is known for her marquetry handbags, sculptural furniture, and decorative objects.
“Even now, after so many years chronicling her designs, I always expect to learn something new at a Silvia Furmanovich appointment—and I have never been disappointed,” Volandes writes in Journey of a Jeweler. “Her curiosity is boundless, her eye meets every place and person with care and with questions. Silvia sees broadly, but then focuses sharply on what a piece might look like, and how impossibly beautifully it can be made.”
The book’s seven chapters detail Furmanovich’s forays in marquetry, takeami (bamboo weaving), miniature painting, silk weaving, beadwork, papyrus, and crin (horse mane weaving).
The new book includes Silvia Furmanovich sketches that show how she realistically represented nature in jewelry-making.
“Through marquetry, I can express the inner spirit of the forest, the energy of the Amazon, and the evolution of the world,” Furmanovich says in the book, which outlines how travel has fed her creativity for her 25 years in the industry.
Journey of a Jeweler also covers Furmanovich’s close relationships with highly skilled makers she has found worldwide—she is based in both São Paulo and New York City—and presents the resulting pieces, which hold history yet feel timeless.
Grant beautifully organizes Furmanovich’s observations about her work, creativity, and inspiration. Reading along, you feel like you are there with Furmanovich—and you also wish you could travel alongside her wherever she’s going next in the world.
What also makes this book a must is its photography. There are pictures that, as Volandes notes, make you marvel at how Furmanovich could craft something so intricate and so gorgeous.
Take the Butterfly earrings in the marquetry chapter. With yellow gold, citrine, opals, and diamonds, they look a butterfly as one might spot it on a flower. It’s a surreal type of realism—and a true gift Furmanovich possesses and thankfully shares with the world.
Top: Silvia Furmanovich’s butterfly earrings appear on page 20 of the new Rizzoli book Journey of a Jeweler. (Photos courtesy of Rizzoli)
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