Q&A with Jewellery Designer Nadia Sankar

Most women love jewellery. Jewellery for the contemporary woman represents their uniqueness and encourages them to embrace their own personal style. It is made of natural elements such as gold, sterling silver, diamonds and gemstones and even other unusual materials such as quartz. However, Nadia who is quite shy, is trying something new. She is using polymer clay. You’re probably wondering how can clay become beautiful body adornment, aren’t you? Evidently, polymer clay is not clay at all, and actually is a basis of PVC and one or more of several kinds of liquid plasticizer. Pigments may be added to the translucent base to create a variety of colors. Local Jewellery Designer Nadia Sankar has perfected the techniques of using polymer clay and as such, her designs can display the appearance of jade, amber, coral, turquoise, ivory, and even granite. We had a chat with Nadia to find out how she uses polymer clay to fashion these modern designs and trendy accessories.

Did you always want to make jewellery?
No, my first love was sewing, drawing fashion, designing my own clothes. It was not until I saw a segment on the Carol Duvall show about polymer clay that I became interested in this medium and making jewellery with it.

How did you get into art design?
Well my parents are artists, I learned from them... ever since I was a child I’ve had a passion for art in many forms. I spent long hours drawing the human form but never felt that this was my true calling... but once I tried my hand at sculpting, I found this to be the way for me, I told myself "ahhh.... this is it Nadia…. this the thing for you!"

You seem to find inspiration from nature, specifically plants, what draws you to this? How do you   find your inspiration?
I love the Art Nouveau period, so that's were some of my inspiration comes from but not all... my style is very eclectic. I draw my inspiration from a wide variety of things... example: the peoples of the world, their culture, faces, costumes etc... but mostly it's my imagination, (which is very wild and vivid) the images that pop into my head in the middle of the night, at work… that I turn into the art that you see...

Who are your favourite artists?
Frank Frazetta, Louis Royo, Norman Rockwell, Boris Vallejo, Gustav Klimt, Van Gogh... to name a few (I have quite a long list).

What do you do when you're not working, any hobbies?
This is not a hobby per say, I make traditional mas with my mother, (she has a children's band) and I perform with her as well throughout the year at different events.

What are you working on and what are your plans for the future?
My steampunk line and a few other things, like wall art, clocks and some limited home decor... I plan to get into the metal clays, silver, gold bronze… and take my line of jewellery one step further. On choosing fashion accessories Nadia advises, “You must consider your personality; look at trends, style, especially the clothes you want to wear, she stresses. You should also not forget colour.”