Aline Kokinopoulos is a jewellery designer and founder of Aline K Bijoux. Born in Senegal and originally from Greece, she has been working for twenty-five years on three main themes : nature, architecture and sea. Lover of the South of France and Italy, Aline makes complex and colourful jewels with astonishing finesse.
Could you please introduce yourself in a few words?
My name is Aline Kokinopoulos. I have been a jewellery designer for 25 years. I haven’t studied in a classic jewellery school. I studied in a school of arts in teh South of France. It was created by professionals who are still in business. In this school, we were working on jewellery as a sculpture. We were setting up projects and learning skills thanks to it. It gives a certain freedom and no judgement from teachers. I studied there during two years. Then, I took a break, I went to Africa to work. I have worked with Senegalese jewellers, with all materials we could find : wood, recycled metal, some ivory, African beads, nylon thread… When I came back, I was around 24-25 years old and my school had moved to Nimes. I completed a year of research with the same teachers. Afterwards, I moved to Marseille as a professional jeweller. At the beginning, I was working as best I could, with shops and using many minerals. I’ve learned a lot during this period. I subscribed to the Ateliers d’Art de France and started to participate to fairs and to meet professionals. We fall into a different process : profit, collections, ….We lose a bit of our identity and people want us to be cost-effective. It is a pity. Simultaneously, I participate to many exhibitions and I like to work on different themes with Italian people. I am part of an association created by a young woman in Italy. I participated to an exhibition about Art Nouveau, twice a year, during Vincenza’s fair. It is located in a venue called Palakiss and it shows the work of Gioiellodentro association. There are articles about this event in Italian issues. I also work with galleries such as Ateliers d’Art de France in Paris and I have very loyal customers.
How would you define your creative universe?
People say my work is thin. I work on themes : nature, architecture and sea. These elements were surrounding me in Marseille. Belatedly, I realized – by communicating with Greek jewellery designers – that all my models exist there. I don’t know if it is in my DNA! I don’t want people to enter in a shop and think they always see the same jewels. That’s why I took a professional break, I was unable to create new models. Next time, I want to surprise my public. I want to spread poetry through my work.
When have you decided to launch your activity?
After school, when I started to seill pieces. I was not a real professional yet. When I came back to Marseille, my name was too complicated to remember so, very quickly, I have made myself known by using my firstname and the first letter of my lastname. Aline K Bijoux was born. You necessarily need a distinctive sign, it is the basis. In France, we are three jewellers making architecture pieces. I just bought a jewel by Jean Boggio and I would like, one day, to be as famous as him but we are not in the same category!
How did your passion for jewellery start?
When I was 16, I was living in Africa and, one day, my mother took me to the workshop of two jewellers from Cape Verde. I observed them working for a long time. When I came back home, I told my mother that I wanted to make jewellery. She agreed but asked me to complete my Bachelor’s degree first. I have looked for a school in Paris but there were less options at this time. We were not aware of anything. A person suggested me to do an internship but it was between 10 and 15,000 francs a year. It was impossible. I stayed focused on my idea even after highschool. This job was done for me. I studied applied arts for a year in Paris, then, I finally found this multidisciplinary school in the South of France. It was perfect because I could get closer to the South! There were teachers and different workshops : wood, textile, metal and clay. We could jump from a workshop to another. I was part of the metal workshop with an option in jewellery. My master was Gilles Jonemann, he only works with natural materials : seeds, rust, etc. I devote myself to metal, it is my favourite vice. I like to struggle with metal. At the beginning, I made many wooden jewels. I didn’t graduate because my school was not accredited. Around ten years ago, I obtained a validation of acquired experience, I took a BMA diploma which allowed me to become a teacher at the GRETA ,in Marseille, during four years. It also helps me to refocus my technical skills which is really important when you teach. It was a good thing.
Do you remember the first jewel you created? How did you feel?
Yes, it was a ring. My first weld. I still have it after 25 years, it is a balanced circle welded on a ring. It is a really weird jewel but it is wearable. My work was very geometrical at the beginning.
I also knew that I wanted to do this job, since I had this experience when I was 16. I assure you that if I was not passionate I would have stopped it a long time ago! I almost stopped everything a few months ago, I looked for a job and I didn’t find anything. I realized it was a pity. Many clients sent me nice emails asking me to continue. Daily work is complicated but deeply, I am a jeweller. I can’t change it.
How does your creative process work?
Regarding flowers, I work on natural forms; I have a herbarium at home. I pick flowers, I draw small sketches or make watercolours. Then, I shred it and analyse all small leaves. I have real size flowers taped into notebooks. Later, I reproduce it in a very small version and I cut. Regarding urchins, I use moulds and adapt it. I also make architecture jewels. If it is an order, I will start with a drawing, I select gemstones and volume… It will be very academic drawings because the client needs to visualize the piece. Basically, it is better to first work on a drawing, even if it is bad, to put down your ideas on paper. I can work on it again. I automatically draw all my hollows architecture jewels on graph paper because I can’t randomly cut metal. Once it is cut, it is cut. It is not like clay.
Are your architecture jewels inspired by real cities?
It depends. One of my ring is entitled Ca d’Oro, it is based on this Venitian palace drawings. I am inspired by many pictures but, for one or two rings, I was just inspired by the city name and I imagined about it. Two or three years ago, I participated to an exhibition in Paris, with a friend about ‘Invisible Cities’ – a book written by Italo Calvino – in which Marco Polo describes all the cities visited named like women. My friend Suzanne and I based our work on this idea. We quoted the book to brighten up the exhibition. I love when people come, take one of my Venice rings and say it really looks like Venice. Some clients don’t know why they choose a city called Babylone or another but something happens with a specific ring. The architecture ring awakens something in us. At one point, to wear a jewel and to be able to buy it, it has to be easy to wear. I don’t believe in the power of gemstones but if somebody can buy a jewel that provokes something when you look at it, it’s perfect! I struggle so hard, it is a fulfilled mission.
Earlier, you talked about your walks to find flowers, is your inspiration mainly based on these moments?
Yes, I had plants everywhere at home, slightly less now. One of my brothers is a florist so he gives me flowers and I try different things. Flowers are very complicated because nature creates things but metal resists. I try to make a gloriosa lys but it will take a long time. I spend a lot of time in the countryside, looking for flowers everywhere. I picked up many things lately, dry plants I molded. I watch everything that can be interesting like architecture, etc. The Internet helps us a lot but it also interferes with creation because we sometimes discover exactly the piece we just finished, on another website. You cannot think you are the only jeweller to make what you do. The difference is the way you do it. I recently met a lawyer regarding my urchins jewels and he told me I couldn’t register this model. I didn’t want to register it but I have a problem with another designer who harmed me. This lawyer told me that an urchin mould will always be a mould, that’s the way you work on it that matters and creates a specific jewel. It’s the designer’s act. It is a complicated subject but when designers are smart, everything is fine. The contemporary jewel field is very small and feminine in France, it is a bit hard.
How would you define the Senegalese relationship with jewels?
There are two movements in Senegal? Initially, Senegalese women only wear gold, colours and big jewels, at least, that’s the way it was when I was a child. You have to show off. For them, gold is also an investment. Now, many of them abandoned their traditional jewels to wear more European jewels. There is also another movement with many silver jewels. Mostly, these jewels are not made by Senegalese jewellers but by Pulaar or Mauritanian whose skills are mostly based on silver. When I was a child, these jewels were really beautiful, very thin and creative. They have been influenced by Western tastes. It is very sad and there are also many gold jewellery arrivals and supposed to be 22 carats. Now, many shops sell gold but we don’t know if it is gold or golden brass. Also, there are many small jewels from Mali, gold jewellery copies made with recycled materials. Malian big earrings are reproduced in clay and painted. It is very interesting, I also really like jewels produced with recycled materials, it is very beautiful.
To read the 2nd part : > Aline K Bijoux – 2/3 Know-how
Photos : © Aline K Bijoux sauf mention © JC. Lett. Photographies fournies par Aline Kokinopoulos et publiées avec son autorisation.
