Doretta
Tondi was born in 1960,
in Kozani, Greece. She has studied architecture at Wellesley College and
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the U.S.A. and she also
holds a Master's degree in Advanced Architectural Studies from University
College of London.
For
almost a decade she worked as a freelance textile designer, before she
finally decided to apply her design skills to jewelry. She attended the
Mokume Institute of Jewelry-Making of Thessaloniki and in the mid-nineties
she opened her own studio where she designs and personally handcrafts
her small-scale jewelry production.
Doretta
has chosen high-karat gold as her medium, occasionally using her favorite
stones, brilliant-cut diamonds and tourmaline. Most of her jewelry is
made of 22-karat gold and her collection includes, apart from production
jewelry, limited editions of ten to 50 numbered pieces, as well as unique
pieces. Signed certificates are provided with each piece of jewelry and
the limited edition and unique pieces are presented in oak display cases.
Being
very fond of the marine world and an admirer of Japanese art, Doretta
Tondi tries to give her jewelry simple but well designed, strong forms,
using curves which echo the lines of elegant sea creatures, boats, sails,
or waves. She likes to give texture to the surface of the metal, making
it look like sand, skin, or even textile. In many of her designs, especially
earrings and pendants, she combines several articulated elements, which
take advantage of the wearer's movements in order to be set in playful
motion and even to produce sound.
Doretta's
collection is regularly shown in trade fairs, such as, "Kosmima"
and "Gold and Silver" in Greece, "International Jewellery
London" and "Inhorgenta" in Munich. Her work is often presented
in solo and group shows in jewelry galleries and it is sold in shops carrying
collections of contemporary art jewelry, in Greece and abroad. Her designs
have repeatedly received awards at the competition of "Kosmima"
and in 1998 her work was selected and included in the exhibition "6000
Years of Greek Jewelry", which was organized by the Greek Ministry
of Culture.
