Oriented on making people closer

The common saying "diamonds are a girl's best friend" does not apply to Georgian women. Their jewelry "favorites" are minankari - original and extraordinarily beautiful handmade jewelry, in which you can look elegant at a social event or be irresistible at a friendly party. You can wear them with simple dresses or jeans and always remain in the spotlight.

Minankari are unique handmade creations of applied arts masters of Georgia. Like delicious wines or traditional dishes of Georgian cuisine, this jewelry is considered the country's national "brand" and occupies one of the leading positions in this list.

Ashgabat residents and guests of the capital will be able to get acquainted with minankari at a jewelry exhibition, which will be held for the first time in the capital's Museum of Fine Arts. The exposition will run for two days, May 20-21, and promises to be a bright and memorable event. About 150 works of art by nine famous women jewelers of Georgia, working in the technique of cloisonné enamel, which is translated from the Georgian “minankari”, will be presented here.

Visitors are waiting for skilful works made of silver, precious stones, enamel and gems - brooches, pendants, earrings, rings, bracelets and even miniature paintings. Colorful items in ethnic style and modern exquisite Minankari jewelry, made by hand and in a single copy, can take their rightful place in the best collections of family jewels. After all, the jewelry, pendant, earrings or set you like can be purchased after the exhibition or pre-ordered, Tamara Japaridze, a jeweler and organizer of the vernissage, told Orient.

— I came to Ashgabat for the first time on personal business and immediately drew attention to the stunning dresses of Turkmen women, which literally fascinated me. And, of course, as a jeweler, I immediately noticed their love for jewelry - each outfit is complemented by a brooch or pendant, bracelet or earrings. It was this abundance of beauty that inspired me to organize a jewelry exhibition. I am sure that the Georgian minankari will not leave indifferent Turkmen women who will be able to appreciate these amazing products, the guest said.

So, Tamara threw a call to her fellow jewelers in Tbilisi, with whom she is friends, works and organizes enamel art exhibitions around the world. By the way, simultaneously with the Ashgabat exposition, the Minankari jewelry show will open in Italy. Vernissages are constantly held in Europe, America, Asia, the CIS, and the women of these countries have long been flaunting the luxurious jewelry of Georgian craftswomen.

The fashion for the author's cloisonne enamel has long "stepped" beyond the borders of Georgia. They say about Minankari - beauty, time-tested. Products are famous for their color and, literally, fascinate at first sight. They wonderfully combine Georgian, European and Eastern traditions and are worn by representatives of different continents with pleasure. True, everyone has their own preferences - Asian women favor large and voluminous jewelry, European women choose smaller ones, but American women have chosen products depicting flora and fauna - outlandish birds, fabulous deer, goldfish and flowers of unearthly beauty, frozen in enamel overflow.

Especially for the Turkmen exposition, “hot, freshly baked” exhibits arrived - in the language of jewelers, this means a new piece of jewelry that has not yet been exhibited anywhere and, leaving the oven, will take its place at the exhibition stand. Among such specimens are silver brooches, bracelets, rings and entire sets.

The Ashgabat exhibition will also feature several miniature paintings made in the technique of cloisonné enamel. In these works, the masters captured urban landscapes, cozy streets of old Tbilisi, a herd of horses soaring in the steppe, natural beauties immersed in the warm rays of the sun, as well as wonderful spills of dawn and sunset.

Artistic plots can also be found in jewelry, and the theme, as well as the selection of colors, depends only on the author's imagination, Tamara continues the story. There are abstract drawings or whole stories in miniature, or portraits of people. One of these silver brooches with the image of Marilyn Monroe can also be seen at the exhibition in Ashgabat - the author of the work was able to accurately convey the charisma and magnetic smile of the Hollywood beauty. Such an exclusive product will decorate any outfit.

By the way, almost all brooches of Georgian craftswomen can be worn as a pendant, wearing the right pendant. And some of them even perform a triple function, turning into fashion accessories, for example, for glasses. In a word, everyone will be able to choose a color decoration according to their taste and style.

Minankari art has reached incredible heights in Georgia today. And this applied craft came to the country from Byzantium in the distant 9th century. In those ancient times, craftsmen created objects of religious worship - crosses, icons, ritual utensils, and only after some time they began to make jewelry.

However, the technique has not changed much. Cloisonne enamel got its name due to a special technological process. The work is done exclusively by hand, and the main tools are a keen eye, tweezers and brushes of various “calibers”, with the help of which the desired pattern is laid out from the finest silver threads. These "cobwebs" serve as partitions - enamel is poured into them and burned out several times in muffle furnaces at a temperature of 800 degrees. And only upon completion of the enamel work, the jewelry part begins - the cut can be gold, silver or copper.

— The minankari technique also interested the Turkmen jewelers with whom I had a meeting. The idea came up to hold training courses and master classes in Ashgabat, as well as to create jewelry collaborations at the intersection of Georgian and Turkmen applied arts. But all this in the next visit. And this time I invite everyone to the exhibition "Menankari of Georgia" and personally get acquainted with the creations of Georgian craftswomen. I hope that Turkmen women will appreciate the elegance and chic of colored enamel products and join the number of admirers and lovers of wonderful minankari,” Tamara Japaridze said.

Gulya Geldiyeva

Photo: provided by Tamara Japaridze