MA BY MA - Spain
MA BY MA
Designer biography:
Maria Gulavskaya is a designer, jeweller and founder of the MA BY MA brand. Well, that is me. I studied psychology at Moscow State University, and then many years later, after passing artistic entrance exams, I discovered myself studying Jewellery design, Silver- and Goldsmithing at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. The only fixed piece of my biography is this, and everything else will be changing. “Ma” (間) - The name MA BY MA comes from “Ma” by Maria. In Japanese, the philosophical concept of “Ma” refers to the space between objects, an interval, opening, or silence. You can imagine “Ma” as a space between the walls of a room, or a musical pause, a void between two sounds. As a jeweller, I consider myself working with the space between a person’s inner world and the external world. To me, jewelry is like a door that allows your inner light to shine through. So, actually, I am a specialist in making doors.
Collection concept:
I don’t work with collections in the conventional sense. For me, it’s always been about the idea. If one design says everything I need it to, then that’s enough. I don’t feel the need to create more just for the sake of quantity. Each piece I make holds something personal—an emotion, a moment, a thought I couldn’t explain any other way. I see my work as a collection of concepts, shaped into jewels, and given real meaning when someone chooses to wear them. That’s when the story becomes theirs too. That’s the part I love most. My first education is in psychology, and maybe that’s why people have always been at the center of what I do. I’m fascinated by who we are beneath the surface—what we carry, what we hide, what we choose to show. My jewels aren’t just decorations. I always saw them as tools revealing your true self.
