ABOUT MARIA

Hi! I am Maria Frantzi and I was born on the Greek island of Rhodes in 1970. My parents were jewellers and perhaps that is the reason I developed such a passion for jewellery: I remember playing with them the way most children play with toys.

I studied in Thessaloniki and I opened my first jewellery workshop in 1988. I moved to London in 1999 and I now supply jewellery to a range of shops and galleries in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., as well as a growing number of individual clients who have found my work via the Internet. I also take part in a number of European jewellery fairs every year. For an extensive catalogue of my most recent designs please go to the Galleries section.

I am also fascinated by the history of jewellery. Our ancient cave-dwelling ancestors killed animals, ate the meat, used the fur for warmth - and the bones and teeth for jewellery. People may say that jewellery is a frippery, but jewellery was possibly the first thing created by human beings that was not required for simple survival. Through the ages, jewellery has been used to express prestige, power, faith and love. One last thought: the ancient Greek word for jewellery is kosmima, which has the same root as kosmos (world).