Meet the artisans
Every maker.
A different story.
From hammered silver to intricate wax carving, discover the people and skills behind the work.
People · Places · Traditions
The hands
behind
the jewellery.
Meet the artisans of EthnoPur. Their stories, their skills, and the traditions they bring to every piece.
Pak Lenju · Bali, Indonesia
The art of making
Connected through craft
Different origins.
A shared art.
EthnoPur brings together artisans from Niger, Indonesia and India. Traditional skills meet contemporary ideas in jewellery shaped by the people who make it.
Behind the metals, stones and techniques are individual lives, family traditions and years of practice. Getting to know the maker is part of getting to know the piece.
01 / THE CONCEPT
Tradition, continued.
Working with traditional smiths, we bring established techniques and new ideas together in fine ethnic jewellery.
02 / THE PEOPLE
More than a piece.
Each creation carries a cultural background and an artisan’s own way of seeing, shaping and making.
03 / THE CONNECTION
Made with you.
A personal idea can become a piece of jewellery. Choose an artisan, or let us help you find the right hands for your project.
Every maker.
Master Tuareg smith · Agadez
Taffa
A family tradition, shaped by his own hands.
The Youngest Sibling of a typically numerous Agadez family , learned his Metière from his father. So did even his other brother’s Hamid and Abda. What the work itself concerns , Taffa is curious , attentive , a great listener , reflective , and with an extraordinary capability for transforming ideas and simple sketchs drawn on the scarces pieces of paper around , into sometimes impressively clean works of art.
Incredibly creative · Shaping Metals by hammering · First quality Tuareg engravings
Master silversmith · Bali
Pak Lenju
A first ring. A lifelong craft.
Lenju made his first ring when he was 10 years old. He didn’t sell it. He put it on his fingers for his school friends to see. The plan worked: They started to order rings and he began working as ‘’Tukan’’ in the same desk that his brothers have been using, in the family house where he still lives. He used to buy food at school with the money he earned.
Best engravings in metal · Balls decoration · Ingenious techniques
Stone setter · Lumajang
Ipan
A different path, a precise hand.
Ipan’s destiny seemed to be to become a tailor. His family sewed and fix clothes in Lumajang, the town where he was born in 1986. But when he was in secondary school, at the age of 14, a neighbor start teaching him how to make silver chains, the specialty of that locality in East java. Like many of Indonesian teenagers, he needed the money so he left school and started to work. For 4 years he was learning from the town smiths but he knew that Bali was the place where the most known artists were and he wanted to gain experience.
Stone setting · Precision work · Silent and Focused
Gold specialist · Wire work
Kedy
Patience in every detail.
Kedy’s children has no time to sit beside his table and learn how to do a pair of earrings as he did. Now, they have many school hours, they practice sports and learn English. But his own childhood was crossed by 3 things: help his father in the rice fields, race cocks for the religious ceremonies and develop the skills to become a ‘’tukan’’. He started helping the others, especially his uncles, his father did not see well and he had no choice but to work in the fields. At the age of 11 he finished his first pair of earrings with the help of a neighbor….
Gold specialist · Wire work and filigree · Forever Smile
Tuareg smith · Niamey
Hamid
The quiet art of concentration.
He arrives silently every morning, wrapped in his Tuareg robes. Equally silent he starts to prepare the Chai. He smokes his cigarette. He greets with a suffered smile. After a short prière, he places his “bench” supported against the enclume, he files the point of his old screwdriver and after exclaiming … “Bismillah!” he starts to engrave the dedicatedly hammered and polished 100% pure Silver pieces. He works so silently that sometimes I wonder where He is. Taking a break just just for the chai or the prière, he focuses his tiny fully self in his work. A model of Concentration and Presence. That is, among other things, our Dear and Most Veteran Smith, Hamid.
Most veteran Tuareg Smith · He makes exquisite engravings · Model of Concentration and Presence
Lock specialist · Gresik
Hisyam
An artist’s eye for how things work.
Since he was 9, Hisyam started to stand out by the strokes of his brush in his school in Gresik, in the oriental part of java. He painted trees, animals, volcanos and the sea. At that time he didn’t knew he was going to make his living through his artistic skills. It was most probable that he end up working in the fish factory, as his father. He even tried that, but wasn’t for him. He also worked in the paper factory, learn how to fix motorbikes and worked as decorator for parties. When he was 19, he moved to Denpasar, Bali. He didn’t know anything about bracelets or rings. He remembers that it was hard to learn, maybe because he was very obsessive and wanted to know each step in depth….
Lock specialist · Mechanism creator · First quality Tuareg engravings
Master wax carver · Ubud
Dewa
From painting to miniature sculpture.
During his childhood in Ubud, Dewa Putu Dewantara played at being a paintor. His father and other family members sold little paintings in which they portrayed rice fields, landscapes an the most beautiful Bali birds. when he put down the brush, he ran away with his friends to catch the eels that camouflage themselves between the mud and the water of the rice paddies. They cooked them for dinner.
Unlike many artisans that started to work being teenagers, Dewa continue studying. He did an art degree because he thought he would be a painter. He tried but it was hard to sell his work. In 2002 his life changed for two reasons: he got married with Ida Ayu Pusparini, with whom he has 3 teenager daughters and the Bali Terrorist Bombing occurred and Bali’s economy cracked.
Efficient and creative wax carver · He prints his own character on each piece · Good translation of ideas from paper to wax
Master wax carver · Tangkas
Darta
A sculptor’s skill, on a smaller scale.
From Tangkas, a village in southeast Bali, when Darta was a kid, he standed out for short distance running. While he was helping his father with the animals in the farm, he competed in regional races. Whenever he had free time he spend it in the river, fishing and swimming. At the age of 15, his parents couldn’t afford his school so he decided to find a job in Gianyar area. The first rupees were earned making wood handicrafts. With the time his work evolved: he learned to carve doors and wood sculptures.
When he was 24, one of his brothers taught him how to make jewellery. The first one was a necklace. With the years he gained experience and he was accepted in silver workshops, but the jobs fluctuate at the rhythm of an uncertain demand. Meanwhile he began to specialize in wax carving for jewellery.
Most difficult and long projects · Extreme quality engravings · Great ability to transform a drawing in 3D
Your idea · Their hands
A piece with
your story in it.
Have an idea for a custom piece? Share a sketch, an inspiration or a starting point. You can choose an artisan, or we can suggest the right person to bring it to life.