For Sarabande Foundation alumni Martina Kocianova, jewellery is an extension of her passions, and luckily mushroom foraging lends itself well to offbeat and eclectic jewellery pieces.
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Martina Kocianova, Astroshrooms – Lion’s Mane (cancer)
Kocianova, who grew up in Slovakia, spent her childhood mushroom foraging with her mother. Upon moving to London, she studied at Central Saint Martins before getting into the Sarabande artists programme, which offered her a studio and a raft of new opportunities. ‘I could properly focus on developing my skills and craft and I got much better at stone setting and carving,’ Kocianova says. ‘I built my first commercially successful collection – the peak, though, was Sarah Burton buying a bunch of my jewellery pieces.’
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Martina Kocianova, Inky Cap (scorpio)
Considering her new collection, it felt natural for Kocianova to draw on her culture and background, epitomised by the mushroom. ‘When I was at Central Saint Martins, I was really trying to find my voice as a designer, and I realised mushrooms are very specific to my experience. They also really connect to being Eastern European, because it’s something so many families do there – it’s part of how you grow up.
‘Once I started researching mushrooms more, I got quite obsessed with how mycelium connects nature together. I started experimenting with mycelium and thinking about mushrooms not just visually, but also conceptually.’
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Martina Kocianova, Fairy Cap (pisces)
Kocianova’s mushrooms are crafted in gold and set with materials including emerald, jade, red jasper and rainbow moonstone. Each piece corresponds to a star sign, another of her interests. Each is customisable based on Sun, Moon, and Rising, with each mushroom shaped and set using the corresponding stones.
‘As my jewellery resonated with people, I realised mushrooms are actually perfect talismans,’ she adds. ‘They naturally carry ideas of luck, magic and transformation. It just became the symbol of my work. Now people come to me specifically for mushrooms, sometimes even asking me to carve them from their own crystals, which makes it really personal. My aim is quite simple – I just want to be the one people think of when they want a mushroom heirloom. And I’m always trying to find more of those mushroom people.’
