Meet the Designers - Tato Louizidis of Ndau Jewellery and Leatherware

(Please note that Tato Louizidis is no longer a designer with Ndau, but has left to start her own business!)

As Gail has mentioned in a previous post, Ndau has added two new designers to their already talented line up - one of whom is Devon Stewart, who I've already blogged about. The other is Tato Louizidis and here's some information about her background and inspirations and of course, some pictures of her creations!

"Tato was born in Yerevan, Armenia but grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe. Having a father who is a jeweller, she was exposed to and inspired by jewellery and gemstones from a young age. Pursuing this dream, she then went to study jewellery design and manufacture in Cape Town, South Africa for 3 years and did a further course in diamond grading and evaluation. After studying and working in Cape Town, Tato has now moved to Victoria Falls to work as a jewellery designer at the Ndau studio.

As a child, her interests have always been fairytales and fantasy. Her world was one of fairies, mermaids, pixies, unicorns, princesses, dance, colour and love stories; and it is this same love of fantasy that inspires her today. At 24 years old, her tastes and interests are defined by her childhood world and she strives to find fantasy in her surroundings and world today.

Her designs are feminine, intricate, creative and romantic; with each piece translating a story to the wearer. Her design method is to pick a theme that inspires her and create a range to represent this.

Having a Greek father, Tato was surrounded by Greek myths and legends from an early age and soon fell in love with the magic of Greek mythology. This was her chosen theme for her final year body of work and dissertation to which she wrote a personalised story book of her favourite myths from her point of view and created jewellery to represent each story.

 Arachne's curse

Narcissus' vanity

Narcissus and Echo

Echo, water nymph

Daedalus and Icarus' flight

Pandora's box

Phaeton & Apollo

Eros' love games ring

Eros' love games necklace

Aphrodite's pearls necklace

 Aphrodite's pearls earrings

Everlasting love

Birth of the seasons

The ever changing seasons

Demeter, Goddess of agriculture

Argus' 100 eyes

She has also brought to life a timeless classic - A Treasures of the Ocean range. Since moving to Victoria Falls and being exposed to ethnic African art and wild surroundings, Tato has been inspired by the beauty of the mighty Zambezi and has chosen a feminine take on the mother of all waterfalls - a range of lilies indigenous to the Zambezi. (as seen on our Facebook site)

Currently, she is stirred by a world that glitters: the age of cabaret and burlesque, and is creating a range to suit this theme with a modern twist. Expect feathers, beads, ribbon, lace and gemstones."

Tato has brought a fresh delicacy to the Ndau range and having had a sneak peek of the new burlesque range, all I can say is watch this space...

A Willow Pattern love story

As Gail said, it has been a long time since we've posted anything on new on the blog - we have been overwhelmed with work as my other blogs, Facebook site and Ndau's blog website will show! I can now make it up however with something really gorgeous.

Kelly has been working on a new collection of antique Chinese blue porcelain shards set in sterling silver, which I am very happy to share with you:

Kelly explains: " 16th Century Chinese blue ceramic ware was traded from the East in return for ivory and gold in Africa. The Monsoon Trade Winds blowing from the Northeast of the globe in the months of November to April brought Eastern traders to the East Africa coast. With the change of the monsoon in May to October, winds were now blowing out of the South East, sending the same traders home bound.

These shards of Chinese blue porcelain were found buried in the sands of the old dhow harbour on Lamu Island in Northern Kenya, close to the Somali border. I collected, shaped and set them in silver to show off the beauty and age of each piece."

One of my fondest memories is of my grandmother reciting the story of the Willow pattern to me a teatime when I was young. To me, these pieces capture a sense of romance and wonder as well as history in sterling silver - and I feel that one of those rings has my name on it...

Meet the Designers - Ndau Jewellery & Leatherware Part 1

The Elephant's Walk Shopping Village is not only the home of the Ammonite Gallery but is also the studio workshop base of sterling silver jewellery label Ndau. Tucked in a secluded corner of the village complex, designers Christie Halsted, Kelly Landrey and Gail Van Jaarsveldt create truly beautiful lost wax cast silver pieces, combining these with exotic leathers, semi precious stones and antique trade beads in their leather & jewellery factory.

Kelly Landrey and some of the team in the workshop

Master precious metalsmith Joe Mpofu, along with his team, brings their unique vision to life and works hand in hand with leather craftsman John Mphuwa on their combination designs. 

Joe and silversmiths in studio

John and fellow leatherworkers

All of the Ndau silver pieces are hand cast using the lost wax method. Basically this involves the delicate detailed creation of a wax model of the item to be cast. Once several of these are ready, they are attached to a wax "tree" and set in investment (similar to plaster of paris). The wax is then melted out at high temperatures leaving empty shapes in the exact detail of the original wax model. Molten silver is poured in down the "tree" channel and sets in the shape of the original wax model.

Smelting the silver



Pouring the liquid molten silver into the flask

These castings are separated out and individually hand polished until the gleaming sterling silver emerges from its' chrysalis of investment. These sterling silver pieces are then combined with beads, shells, crystals, precious stones and all forms of leathers to create the Ndau Jewellery Collection.

The gorgeous finished item

In the next post, you'll meet each individual Ndau designer, so keep following!