Dorothée Potocka’s jewels have a soul.They carry a strong emotional and sensitive content, touching our most intimate self. While their delicate beauty immediately stand out, their impact seems to reside in something more subtle, almost ungraspable. Each of her designs conveys a story, often outlined on the back of the piece. Well beyond the words inscribed, her jewellery resonates in our memories with their myriad universal symbols blending the past and the present. They promise access to a thousand imaginary or real lives to those who will wear and treasure them… The spirit who imagined these pieces and brings them to life is fully contained within them, pursuing a quest which goes beyond mere beauty.
The power of jewellery is to bridge the gap between the past and the present, because each piece is a vehicle for history and symbols, which it passes on, while being the recipient of emotions and feelings like no other object. It is naturally precious and its value lies in the metal, the stones, the hands which crafted it and the hands which presented it as a gift. It is also precious because it is personal: intimately close to our lives in which jewels are landmarks to punctuate chapters.A recipient of both history at large to which her family contributed and of her own personal history, Dorothée Potocka has not always felt legitimate as a creative person. Designing jewellery came as an affirmative act. She gradually spread her wings and dared manifest all the strands of her life: the countries she had lived in or travelled through, the languages she spoke, the losses, the spirituality, the love of art, are the paving stones of as inner journey which she now translates in her designs.
The stars, the constellations, the earth, the sea, the Virgin and the angels, Renaissance Italian painting, Orthodox icons, Egyptian art are the sources of inspiration she draws from to create her talismans. Necklaces, pendants, rings, bracelets, earrings, these pieces are unique or in limited edition; they are a tribute to timeless skills. Techniques such as pietra dura marquetry or stonework, cameos or painted miniatures are enhanced by the precious nature of the materials and the precision of craftsmanship. And, since every element in this jewellery has a meaning, each piece comes in a box, exquisitely crafted by a supplier for the Vatican, who previously put his expert hands at the service of Bulgari or Cartier at a time when they were family-run businesses. Yet everything comes quite naturally, in a simple guise, which is something of a rarity, a sign of unpretentiousness. The reason for this may be that Dorothée Potocka follows her intuition more than she puts it forward. Indeed the language she chose (jewellery) enables her to reconnect with her roots, to express her strength and vulnerability, her immense respect for women, their frailty and resilience. Dorothée Potocka’s jewellery conveys a history spanning a thousand years, which has spawned myths and fertilised our imagination.