Emefa Cole

A Jewellery and silversmithing graduate from London Metropolitan University, London based jewellery designer-maker Emefa Cole explores the transformative power of time to create bold, distinctive body adornment for the true individual, using Single Mine Origin gold and 100% recycled silver in all her pieces. It was during her childhood years spent in Ghana that Emefa developed her fascination with what lays beneath the surface. As a child, local folklore of people finding gold nuggets washed up from the soil after heavy rains captivated her imagination. Today, using traditional wax-casting techniques, Emefa layers various metals including gold, silver, rhodium and oxidised bronze with gold leaf to create pieces that capture the beauty of destruction through a natural peeling process that unveils different layers of precious metal over time. Classic collections such as ‘Vulcan’ celebrate the magnificence of volcanoes, capturing their stunning range of alluring colours, textures and tones. ‘Erosion’ takes inspiration from the sculpted sand dunes of the Sahara to the chiselled ice of Antarctica and seeks to honour this continual process that sculpts the Earth, unveiling an otherwise concealed world.

Emefa has been given the honour to embark on an apprenticeship with the personal Goldsmiths of the Asantehene in Kumasi- the Kings jewellers, a tutorage that will allow her to further explore the ancient craft of wax cast jewellery, a technique native to West Africa. Emefa will be a guardian of these precious and time-honoured techniques.