Sharareh Aghaei - Growing Gems Jury
Sharareh Aghaei
Designer biography:
Sharareh Aghaei was born in Tehran, Iran, and currently lives and works in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. She began her academic training at the Art University of Tehran, where she studied Art and Craft and obtained her Bachelor’s degree. Following her graduation, she worked professionally as a freelance goldsmith. In March 2013, she continued her studies at Hochschule Trier, Campus Idar-Oberstein, in the Department of Gemstones and Jewellery. During her studies, she expanded her academic and artistic experience through an exchange semester at Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence, Italy. In July 2017, she completed her Master of Fine Arts at Campus Idar-Oberstein. Since graduating, she has been working as a stone carver and jewellery maker.
Collection concept:
Precious Stones are limited substances from the nature resources, which has been extensively extracted by the modern manufacturing. Among all these stones getting exploited, the high fashion and jewellery industry is the biggest consumer of these precious stones, of course selected among the ultimate quality. It means the stones with natural characteristics such as inclusions, mini lines or cracks which are not even visible with unaided eyes, will be categorized unqualified or literally as gangue, therefore a large amount of rough rocks would end up in leftover piles and sadly considered as trash. Most of the stones used in the pieces I have created in this collection, are done by this not more usable material, collected from different carving companies, stone workshops, or artists’ remains, to upcycle and give them another chance to show their forgotten beauty.
