Cifra earrings

During my long years of walking around Slovakia and looking for inspiration for my work, I came across various interesting things. During my summer "tour de costumes" I got fascinated by folk furs. They were made of sheep or goatskin. The value of a fur coat today is very high, just as it was in the past. Such a fur coat sometimes lasted a lifetime and was often inherited. Masterful furriers were very respected and even today we have around five of them in Slovakia. These craftsmen brilliantly mastered their craft and its history.

Whenever I go to see costumes in specific regions, it is preceded by long research. A personal visit to see the costume is only the culmination of the entire process. It was no different with fur coats. For years, I have had an amazing old book about furriery from a second-hand bookshop in Slovakia. Thank god that during the time it was created, there were people who knew that if they didn't document their craft now, it would be lost forever. It was the same with the fur coat from Polomka, which I found in the book. I searched for it for months but I couldn’t find it. Maybe it was a single piece. Sometimes it happened that artisans from the other part of the country came to fairs, and in this way, the costumes were modified, and the individual patterns intertwined. Especially on fur coats, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the exact origins of patterns called cifras. However, I was interested in the fur coat from the book. It is feminine, richly decorated, comes from Horehronie region and the cifras resemble a peacock feather. The base is pure and creamy and has rich ruby and emerald cifras. The red colour was created by pickling in a mushroom infusion and the green (emerald) colour was created by immersion in copper infusion. Since this fur coat was also unique, I decided to make solitaire earrings. The one of its kind in this theme. My cifra earrings.

I visited a furrier and he showed me the production of furs and directed my search of the unique fur coat.

Cifra earrings