The Plavetna brand offers various handmade items such as metal jewelry, ceramic dishes and silk scarves. What runs through the entire work and philosophy of this brand is the use of natural materials, clean and minimalist design, and careful hand-crafting with a focus on every detail.
All jewelry of the Plavetna brand is made of brass, “from scratch”, with the help of traditional (hand) metalworking tools. These are pieces of elegant and minimalist design that perfectly complement many clothing combinations.
The Zagreb biologist and artist Luna Džidić is behind the brand, who makes all these items by hand herself. On this occasion, she revealed to us something about the production process and how she started making metal jewelry in the first place.
I have always been attracted to making different objects and what can be done with certain materials. In fact, for all the items I use, I like to know how they work and how they are made and what materials they are made of. This is why it often happens to me that if I want to have something – be it a hat, bag, sweater, shirt, coffee mug or bracelet – the first thing I think about is how to make it myself.
It was the same with jewelry. I had an idea of what kind of jewelry I would like to wear, so I decided that the safest option was to make exactly what I wanted myself. I already had many tools at home because I am constantly fixing things around the apartment. I bought a torch, a metal saw, a bunch of brass, solder, and started making.
I made my first pieces of jewelry for myself and my friends – I was happy that I could make something of high quality and lasting for us, from quality materials; something to our taste that we could not find in stores.
The vision behind the Plavetna brand has always been to create an offer of handmade products made sustainably and in small batches, from natural and durable materials. Although this kind of metal jewelry fit perfectly, for some reason I had no intention of making it for sale at first.
However, the amount of interest in my jewelry has completely dissuaded me. Already based on the first few photos I published, I received many inquiries and orders, and women I didn’t know often asked me in person where I bought the earrings I was wearing. I started accepting orders and soon metal jewelry became another popular product of the Plavetna brand. It is very nice to witness how your business develops from year to year, sometimes in a direction that you may not have planned or expected.
Although it all seems cool and fun now, I have to admit that it was quite challenging at first. Brass is a hard and rigid material, and it takes a certain amount of strength and skill to turn a piece of such metal into a delicate and elegant piece of jewelry. Of course, all this can be mastered with practice and experience. You just need to have a good understanding of the processes and materials you work with, then nothing is difficult. One of the most interesting challenges for me was learning how to solder properly, what kind of solder to use, what kind of flame and at what temperature, how much it is possible to heat the metal so that it retains its physical properties later… When I mastered that part as well, I knew that this was it – that can throw in jewelry production.
Now it has been several years since I started making metal jewelry and I am very happy to see how many people love and appreciate this type of handwork. I really have a wonderful circle of customers and great feedback, which is definitely a motivation to continue working on the offer and creating new products.
Part of the Plavetna jewelry offer can be seen on the Instagram profile @plavetna
