Jewellery and Shoes

I have all my life been creative some way or the other.  But never got formally trained in arts or crafts. I did have textile arts, craft and art in school just like every other kid that schools in Switzerland. But when I chose what to study I couldn't decide between Arts and  Science. OK i know that sounds so weird. What do they have in common? nothing! or at least not much. I honestly am not a genius in either and am not bad in either.... Ah it was such a dilemma. I ended up doing Chemistry. And honestly I still am a gig somewhere just an arty one. 

why do I tell you this? Because I never formally trained Jewellery -I  actually started it because I walked into a beautiful bead shop in Zurich and decided I wanted to start doing beading- bought my self a book, tools and beads. From there I got into doing wire work and eventually I asked a friend to teach me how to solder. Got a stack of Jewellery books along the way and here I am. I am making artisan jewellery in my makeshift studio ( my apartment)

I really enjoy making jewellery and found a true passion in it. But I still got insecurity issues- because I never trained formally! And i find the marketing of my jewellery very hard. As a perfectionist I also find often lots of fault on my work and hence get even more insecure.So when two friends asked me to help them with their new summer shoe range it was not only exciting it was such an honour! Having been doing the work with her for the last few weeks I am even more grateful, since i got a glimpse at how they run their very successful business. And they are so supportive of my designs and give me tips and tell me how to market that i found i gained so much more from this deal that them!
Anyhow remember my makeshift studio (the apartment i share with my husband) it became a shoe finishing studio:

We made 3 different styles of sandals, all are bejewelled with semiprecious stones, namely coral and turquoise. 
here is a photo of one of the finished pair.

They are made out of Buffalo leather, messing and coral.

Rania ( the name of the brand) obviously will have more than 3 styles of sandals this summer and you can find there whole range on their website.
As i said i really got the better deal here ( i got a pair of the coral sandals *big grin* ) because i found to work with these talented young women so inspiring i made quite a few pieces of jewellery.