An appreciation of the jewellery of Tanja Ćurin in Hvar Town.
THE WOMEN WHO MAKE (THE ISLAND OF) HVAR
“THE SHOP BLEW ME AWAY”
For thirty years now Tanja Ćurin has been building her cosmos of beauty in lavish and unique necklaces, worn with love by women across the world. Her jewellery is precious and she is a precious brand of Hvar.
“A great friend took me to this fantastic little shop a few steps up from the main square of Hvar town, the shop of Tanja Ćurin. And my great husband bought me a beautiful 3rd wedding anniversary necklace there! Featured here. The shop blew me away. I just had to do a post on it, I felt her work was so special and gorgeous. Really worth going if you’re ever in Hvar on Hvar (no, that’s not a typo).”
This is just one of the countless blog posts written on the Internet by travellers to Hvar, always mentioning the jewellery gallery of Tanja Ćurin, who says for herself that “her Hvar origins go deep…”
A rare woman would not be caught breathless before the beauty of the magical jewellery world built by Tanja Ćurin in Hvar for thirty years. Her lavish necklaces are known worldwide. Year after year some yachts drop their anchors in the metropolis of the sunniest Mediterranean island for the shop owner to grace their collections with another imaginative and original piece. New collections always bring new stories. Composed of semi-precious stones the artist searches for all over the world, as she says herself, “of the coral from the Adriatic depths, turquoises from the Himalayan heights, rubies from Africa, ebony from tropical jungles, aquamarines from the Brazilian mines, rosewood from desert oases and amber from the North Sea…”
Most wondrously interwoven and designed, they combine the uncombinable in a work of art of true beauty and harmony. They are always rounded up with an antique clasp or buckle Tanja Ćurin found on her wanderings across the wide world and distant backward regions precisely for this necklace, this unique one and only piece and no other. For instance, ancient Roman glass studded with a thick layer of silver, or an old prayer box from Nepal adorned with pearls, emeralds and rubies, or an Art Nouveau gold cameo… Carved carnelians, finest filigrees as thins as silk lace… She often designs her own buckles and clasps; her skilful hands cut and carve through ancient tradition like a wizard from India.
Tanja knows the soul of precious stones and plays with them. Even when she resorts to “cheaper” solutions, like pieces of seashells, the necklace turns out magnificent, with a surprising addition of an expensive, often antique clasp or buckle, both in abundance… And behold! This extravagant addition perfectly marries the wooden beads or seashell pieces, generating a unique work of art. What confuses numerous visitors is the lavishness and ease which Tanja Ćurin applies in designing precious and semi-precious stones sometimes in a dozen layers and unexpected length, as if they were gravel spread in millions of pieces across the beaches of Hvar.
Tanja has been creating beauty for thirty years now. Her necklaces are not cheap. Once in a while we can afford one, other times we only satiate our eyes and sense of beauty, just like we delightedly look at valuable artwork in galleries and museums. An association of numerous avid devotees of Tanja’s jewellery, who treat her as their own choice, could easily be established. Many of them keep a continuous debtor-creditor relationship with her – they would much rather pay their chosen necklace off for years than buy something else. They firmly believe that the necklace carries desired energy and that it maintains a spiritual connection with them. As they believe in it so deeply – it really comes true.
When those who follow Tanja Ćurin for years get to think she has already displayed everything in her collections, she always surprises them with something new. Her numerous travels around faraway countries have brought her new visions. Her quest was not only for precious stones and silver, but also for history and methods the skilled local crafters applied to their makings. With utmost respect she has interwoven their work in her designs to give them a special glow and mystery. She interlaced stories and destinies beyond the fairy tales, the stories and destinies of those who not only read but also make them.
It is perhaps this that makes her necklaces so special. The constant experimentation and quest for new expressions in combinations of stones; the courage. As the visitor of Hvar put it nicely – “the shop blew me away”.
Tanja Ćurin is an important travel brand of Hvar, as precious as her jewellery…
