Natalie Dissel: Dazzler

Natalie Dissel brings her jewellery from Bali, to lure the people of Karachi.

KARACHI:

Natalie Dissel’s wearable works of art are not intricate pieces of jewellery.

Instead, they are characterised by hard-edged, large gems moulded in 18 carat gold settings. Rather than sparkling subtly, they speak volumes through their rough, raw beauty.

Natalie Dissel, a Dutch jewellery-maker based in Bali, Indonesia, travelled all the way to Pakistan to display her jewellery to a select audience at the House 21 gallery in Karachi. The exhibition, titled Voyage de Gems, started on May 1, 2011 and continued for four days.

However, the tense situation in Karachi made it hard for Dissel to penetrate  into the elite social circle as she had hoped. The mobs that took to the streets restricted people from attending the exhibition, which had to be rescheduled.

Dissel is not a jewellery designer by profession. She studied arts and design at the Academy of Arts in the Netherlands, but her true passion is travelling across the globe and discovering every country in the world.

Originally from Enter, a Dutch village with a mere 7,000 inhabitants, her initial travels took her to South America. After that, she headed to Asia and was enamoured by the continent’s beauty. She resided briefly in Thailand, till the tsunami struck. After helping with rebuilding efforts, she moved to Bali, Indonesia in 2009.

After the tsunami, Dissel took up jewellery designing and “was totally captured by tribal and indigenous jewellery”. But with Holland being “not much of a jewellery country, where people would rather appreciate pieces of fine arts,” she ended up designing high-end accessories and jewellery in Asia.

Taking inspiration from African beads, she was drawn towards sterling silver and then 18-carat gold. But, says Dissel: “Being on the road drives one towards complete inspiration.” Thus, travels around the world have exceedingly shaped her jewellery, which she describes as “bold, eccentric and confident.”

Dissel mostly designs rings, but for custom orders she will design earrings and a pendant to make a complete set. She collects her gem stones from the world over. “Some are cut to bring out their beauty, but some one can do without cutting the rough edges,” she said.

Dissel has celebrities like Claudia Schiffer amongst her clientele. “I design my pieces for confident people. Every single piece, I believe, is a statement of sorts. One must only have the guts to wear it,” she said.

Though she works with all kinds of stones, she loves working with tourmaline because, “it grows in nature by itself” and she loves its multitude of colours.

In Bali, the brand Natalie Dissel is in great demand by summer and holiday tourists. Though she feels at home in the former Dutch colony of Bali, she has to brace herself for the hot and humid weather of the place. Her work is also gravely affected by the fact that the natives follow four calendars and as a result, take a lot of holidays.

She believes that in order to attract business in Karachi, she has to make sure that they are willing to wear large signature pieces. “People still delve in small, intricate jewellery. They need to experience wearing jewellery with confidence. One large ring can make a big statement,” Dissel explained.

Dissel plans to exhibit her jewellery designs in Singapore and Australia next. All her plans revolve around her passion for travel, as she enthusiastically discloses: “In August, I plan to take days off and go visit Tajikistan, with my brother!”



Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2011.