As a small child I had the good fortune to visit the souks of Isfahan, Istanbul, and others along the Persian Gulf. I remember the dust, the smells, the sounds of the metal workshops and the glow of the beautiful jugs and cooking pots they had made. Later when living in Tuscany, I stumbled across the glories of Etruscan jewelry in a dusty local museum and my passion for metal work was suddenly fired up. Not long after that, I was lucky enough, decades ago now, to take my first class, in granulation, in New York with Cecilia Bauer. ​
Later while living in Prague, Czech Republic, long famous for glass bead production, I heard of an old factory in the north that was threatened with closure, and drove up to check it out. I loved what I found and returned home with large handfuls of beads of all sizes and colours spread out on the car seat beside me. So began another creative journey.
I was initially drawn to making organic shapes, pulling together beads of different sizes, locking them carefully together under tension to create sweet curves, peaks and troughs, similar to the organic shapes I'd made before in metal. The colours and textures too were such that I realised I could capture my impression of a place, the vivid palette of a city like Barcelona, the rough warmth of stone walls, the deep sheen of Turkish tiles, the milky shimmer of sea foam, the gray-blue sky after a storm, a spring hillside bursting into life. Big impressions, distilled into a bracelet or a ring.
Much of what I learned came from the internet and from books, so I want to sincerely thank the many artists who’ve shared their lessons, their techniques, and their encouragement — online and in print. Whether through formal classes or generous tutorials, your work helped guide mine and gave me the perseverance to keep going.​
Thanks to you all,
​Marianne Bieber, NY