LITO KARAKOSTANOGLOU

18K Pink Gold Labradorite from Madagascar Ring
(left); 18K Yellow Gold Beryl Heliodor from Madagascar  Ring (right)

The Samaria Gorge, located on the island of Crete in Greece, attracts more than 3,000 visitors who hike along its narrow passage ways.  Greece is also home to featured jewelry designer Lito Karastanoglou.

From Egyptian King Tutankhamen to the jewelry artisans of Tiffany & Co., the scarab has been a prominent motif in jewelry design.  

In fact, the ancient Egyptians were mesmerized by the scarab, or dung beetle, as they observed the hatching of the arthropod’s young from mounds of earth and dung.  In witnessing this, the Egyptians felt the insect embodied rebirth, development and growth.

Forty-year-old Karakostanoglou keeps the scarab motif alive and well in her stunning fine jewelry collections that also highlight cocktail rings with settings of pink coral carved into roses, starfish and dahlias. 

Offset by 18-karat yellow or pink gold, the jeweler implements an international assortment of real scarab beetles from Madagascar, Thailand, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Peru into pendant necklaces and earrings.

Remarkably the scarab and coral items hold within them opposing aesthetics: understatement combined with statement making; elegance and daring.

18K Pink Gold  Large Scarab Necklace

“My true source of inspiration is the shape and color of my jewelry pieces,” says the marketing and advertising graduate.  “In the spirit of modernism my goal is to revisit artistic movements emblematic of elegance and allure such as the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods. 

I studied sculpture at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris.  For me, it is always the material that comes first: the stone, the pearl, the coral or a beetle.  Each of them imposes on me its personality. 

I like inventing a design which belongs only to them and play with the pink or yellow gold for pieces full of delicacy and simplicity.  Refinement must be easy to wear.”

Karakostanoglou's official website is currently under construction; however, a few items from her collection can be viewed online at Galeriebsl.com.

18K Pink Gold Ring and Cuff Bracelets with
Malachite and White Marble

Note: Click "jewellery" link and then click on the designer's name from the short list of jewelry artisans.