A few words about my work

I have been fascinated by the world of beads ever since I was a child. Spending my summer afternoons under the vine tree
in my grandmother’s house, I used to thread colourful beads onto fishing lines, the sun reflecting their light on my face.
These were my first bracelets and necklaces, which I would wear with pride, put on my dolls, give away to those I loved.

Growing up, beads became my passion and the purpose of my journeys all around the world. One day, in a Moroccan bazaar,
I found the most beautiful beads I had ever come across: handmade centuries ago, out of glass, with exquisite colours. I spent
my last money to buy them. Then followed Mali, Berlin, Venice, Peru..., I bought more and more: old shell, amber and coral beads,
Islamic beads from the 1200s, antique Venetian and Bohemian trade beads from the 1500s to the 1900s.

Back home, admiring my small treasures, there came a day when I started placing my beads in a row – they seemed to me
as if they were talking to one another, each one embodying a special entity: my first jewels came to life.

Joined with earthly fibres and the care for uniqueness, beads capture in my jewels the signs of time and the history of those who
crafted and painted them, traded them, wore them, celebrated with them, were comforted and healed by them – those who lived with them.

Sohan Maria Spinthouraki