VERA BALYURA | VERAMEAT JEWELRY

Brass Gold Wing Span Pendant Necklace

Considered to be one of the Ukraine’s largest and oldest cities, Kiev City holds the ruins of a 10^th century palace, as well as the Monastery of St. Sophia.  

The Ukraine is also the birthplace of featured jewelry designer Vera Balyura.

Sometimes I come across a jewelry designer whose creations sort of baffle me (in a good way that is).  

A few bloggers have labeled Balyura’s aesthetic “weird”.  I, however, was not quite certain how to describe her design approach.

I guess to say that her assortment of silver rings, pendant necklaces and bangle bracelets are a little eccentric with elements of the macabre thrown in for good measure is probably along the same lines as saying “weird.” 

In any event, her jewelry pieces are not what I would call conventionally pretty.  Balyura creates from a fanciful place that is full of strange wonders.  

“Magic happens when you let yourself free,” says the New York-based jeweler.  “I run a jewelry company that began as a way to unwind my brain from stories told to me in dreams: starring beekeeper centaurs, creatures that never die and deep sea animals.”

Sterling Silver Spine Duster Ring

In my opinion charm jewelry that features universal symbols like wishbones or four leaf clovers diminish the personality the item might otherwise have; I already know the meaning of the symbol.  Balyura’s four-year-old company, VeraMeatJewelry, is a tour de force of her whimsical (and scary) imagination where charm jewelry is turned on its ear. 

With Balyura’s affordable designer jewelry a wearer can project his or her own meaning to a piece or choose not to attach any meaning at all.  For that reason, there is something oddly nostalgic about them. 

Whether it is a baby goat climbing a cupcake; a scuba diver with a gun and dagger; or a Tyrannosaurus Rex eating a fried chicken leg the imagery touched a recess of my mind that is related to childhood fascination with pets, monsters and mermaids.

“I am a teller of winding tales in search of the extraordinary.  The character of my collections is in the richly, articulate surfaces, wearability and subtle details that are created with the precision I inherited from my grandma, she was a surgeon,” says the 26-year-old former fashion model.

Brass Gold Kissing Dragons Cuff Bracelet

“My customers cannot be easily defined. I have had everyone from an old man to super fashionable women to celebrities wear my jewelry.

I love seeing the kind of people who buy it. I don’t want it to be just for girls or guys or for younger or older. I want my jewelry to be looked at like a kind of artifact.”