Veronika

My name is Veronika and I am a jewellery designer and maker working under the name V. Gemayun. I hold a BA (Hons) in Jewellery Design and Production from the British Academy of Jewellery, and I create my pieces both by hand from scratch and through CAD modelling and 3D design, moving between traditional craft and digital precision depending on what each piece asks for.

The name V. Gemayun comes from Gamayun, a bird from Slavic folklore said to carry divine messages and encode meaning into the world, which is exactly what my practice does. I fused it with gem, the material at the centre of my work, and added V as my maker's mark, making the name both personal and deeply tied to everything I stand for.

Gamayun + Gem + V = V. Gemayun.

Materials

Recycled silver is the primary material of my work, workable, durable, and rich in cultural and ritual history across nearly every civilisation. Choosing recycled silver is a conscious commitment to ethical, sustainable making.

Gold and gold leaf bring warmth and a sense of the sacred, long associated across cultures with the divine and the transformative. I'm drawn to them for this symbolic weight, and gold leaf in particular lets me bring that resonance into my work in an ethically and commercially considered way.

I'm also drawn to natural and organic materials like wood, shell, and nut. I love experimenting with them and exploring the qualities of other materials, their textures, their histories, the way they hold their own quiet connection to the natural world.

Work & Intention

I create my pieces with meaning, love, and intention, considering thoroughly the history and belief carried by each material I choose. For me, jewellery is never just decoration, it's a vessel for something deeper, an object that holds and carries what we believe in.

Every piece begins as a feeling, almost like a cosmic whisper, something I can't always explain but know I have to follow. From there comes material research, sketching, and prototyping, before the piece is finally brought into being. It's a process that asks for patience and presence at every stage, because what I'm making was never meant to be just worn. It was meant to be believed in.