Name: Nilufer Kizilkaya
Company: GFG Jewellery by Nilufer
Job: Creative director
Founded: 2014
Designer talk: “The process of selecting gemstones and designing collections, and the creativity behind it, is my real passion.”
Nilufer Kizilkaya’s background in the finance industry has served her well in her second career as creative director of GFG Jewellery, which she’s built into a contemporary brand with a large social media following.
The Turkey-born, London-based Kizilkaya creates her pieces for GFG — which stands for “gift from God” — using diamonds and an array of gemstones, including responsibly sourced emeralds, rubies and amethysts.
“My first fine jewelry collection, which is my Claire collection, is based on the yin and yang in life and was created with white and black diamonds. From there onward, I have incorporated diamonds in nearly all my collections with gemstones — Seraphina, Lara and Eline,” she says. Her handmade designs are light, feminine and elegant, with a beauty that appeals to her female clientele.
Kizilkaya believes in marketing her latest works proactively, using social media. GFG has a big following on Instagram, with over 25,000 people tracking her latest colored-gemstone jewelry designs. “A lot of my costs next to production are in marketing,” she says. “I can make the most beautiful things, but if nobody knows me, nobody will buy.”
Her financial-services background, including over a decade working for investment banks in London, has sharpened her entrepreneurial approach and helped her develop her jewelry business. “When I choose a gem and create a design, I ask myself, ‘Will this piece find a buyer who will fall in love with it?’”
The designer’s fascination with gems has remained with her since childhood, when her mother took her to jewelry shops in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and she herself fell in love with the sumptuous colors of the stones. During her career in financial services, she continued to pursue her interests in gems and jewelry-making during her free time, and would surprise her banker friends with her latest designs.
For her most recent collection, Eline, she’s used black and white diamonds, blue and white sapphires, and rubies. “The name of the collection is inspired by what currently is going on in the world,” she explains. “‘Eline’ means generous, noble, kind. All the things we need in our life.”
The GFG founder often takes her cues from the natural world. Her latest inspiration came from an October visit to Iceland, where she saw the Northern Lights amid clear skies. “I saw a blaze of green lights, which has inspired me to use emeralds,” she explains.
She also has plans to introduce a new diamond jewelry collection in January called Tara, which will feature colored diamonds. The name, she says, signifies “queen, beauty and also diamonds, [and] is inspired by all sorts and shapes of diamonds.”
Image (clockwise): Eline earrings with pearls and black diamonds; Mara diamond ring; Seraphina Throne ring with black diamonds and unheated amethyst; Eline ring with rubies and diamonds; Seraphina emerald and diamond feathers earrings.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - November 2017. To subscribe click here.