Yuri Plekhanov

My name is Yuriy Plekhanov, I am 56 years old and I live in Kiev - the capital of Ukraine. My current specialty is a combination of several favorite activities, which I have been fond of since childhood. Craving for travel and minerals led me after finishing school to the mining and geological faculty of the Donetsk Polytechnic Institute. Although I made my first piece of jewelry at the age of 13, geological romance for a while defeated the jeweler in me. But despite this, I dreamed of my own workshop for processing gems. After working for several years as an engineer-geologist, I finally decided on my profession for the rest of my life. By the end of my studies at the institute I had a homemade machine and a wonderful book - J. Sinkankas “A Guide to Processing Precious and Ornamental Stones”. Thereby, after a few years, my new specialty was the cutting of gems for rings, pendants and other jewelry. In addition, I began to master new methods of processing and crystal carving. A few years later, after purchasing more serious equipment, I was already a professional in this field. The turning point came in 2005. That was the first time I used jewelery wax for carving. Before that moment I already had a certain experience in jewelery making, but the wax gave me the freedom to transform practically any shape I could think of into metal, and my previous experience in cutting gems gave me the freedom to choose components of my works without any limits. As for the creative process, all my work should be perceived as a symbiosis of the material embodiment of an idea and its verbal description. I find it difficult to say which is more important. Sometimes it seems to me I save on visits to a psychotherapist that by describing my creations in detail. Seriously though, what you see in the photos on this page is a part of my inner world, which I would like to share. The name "Jewelery Terrarium" reflects the inner content of my works to the fullest extent. It's difficult for me to describe where the ideas come from. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to come up with something. But most of the time, I sit with my net in an ambush like an entomologist catching butterflies. The main thing is to catch them and have time to sketch them without damaging the idea. If you gape, you will be left with nothing. If you don’t draw, the result is the same. I think of my works as living creatures who have evolved from sketches in my head to being embodied in silver or gold jewelery, according to evolutionary laws that I have defined. It's an amazing and simultaneously devastating sensation. Emotional upsurge after finishing a long and meticulous work is usually replaced by dissatisfaction with the imperfection of its result. I have no art education, but it seems to me that the goal of any creative work (no matter in what area - literature, painting, music, etc.) is to combine two or more contrasting components into a harmonious whole. For example, contrast in shape, color, meaning, direction, structure, texture, etc. In my works, I have chosen contrasts of movement and direction, but I hope in the future to significantly expand “the palette” of techniques used.  In the near future, I have plans to at least partially implement the ideas recorded in my drafts. But the main purpose I consider as the opportunity to live the life in harmony with myself and world around (with what I quite well coped till today).