Inspired by the Aegean: ATELIER LIVING DREAMS

The Greek blue sea, with its magical sun-kissed islands, is an endless source of inspiration to many artists... And I love seeing my beloved Aegean Sea and the Islands through their eyes and their inspiration.
Today I have the pleasure to make you meet one of them... Sabine lives on the beautiful island of Crete. Her work and inspiration could well fall into two other categories and belong into my other two columns, 'Experimental Jewelry' and 'She Traveled...'... Born and raised in Germany, Sabine has found her true home and endless source of inspiration in the wonderful island of Crete. She considers the island of Crete as "the home of my soul", and this "place full of history, amazing landscapes, passionate people, light, color, smells of wild herbs and this certain incredible wind, which is whispering ancient tales within the leaves of weather-twisted olive trees" is the endless source of inspiration for her art. Her shop Atelier Living Dreams is a tribute to all the things she loves, and to her dream come true. Make sure you also visit Sabine's beautiful website.

Sabine says "My world is creativity, colors, shapes, balance and harmony. After kind of an odyssea finding where you really belong, after years of study and travel, I am living my dream, and also my aim and purpose, doing art and design at my atelier, here on my beloved island, my place of home.

As one will surely see and feel, my works are inspired by this certain spirit of life, at the same time simple but although quite oriental, underlined by the bright colors of the sky with its amazing light, the deep blue shades of the ocean, and the rough and bizarre impressions of the Cretan landscape. My jewelry, artwork and fashion designs are a multicultural symbiosis, a statement and an ode to the beauty of culture, variety and difference".

Sabine is often inspired by the ancient symbol of the "Evil Eye" (or Lucky Eye), common to many oriental and Middle-Eastern cultures, as well as to the Greek culture. To the traditional protective symbol of the evil eye talisman, Sabine adds her own very personal interpretation: "I add the fact that when I was little, I refused painting the sun just as a yellow corner or ball, and against all odds, I used to paint it as a bundle of multicolor rays. During the years I learned about various cultures, folklore and the sacred geometry. All these facts together lead me to the creation of the 'Eye of Panthea'."

Her 'Oro di Mare' collection, created with natural elements she gathers from the sea, and mainly beautiful sea-shaped driftwood, "expresses the feeling that the rough and nature-shaped surface and the preciousness of gold and silver go very well together, as at a certain point they meet at the same origin. Nature and life are precious through themselves. Sometimes rough but shaping and refining, and then shining as silver or gold. Each piece of jewely is shaped by its travels through the nature, leaf-gilded or –silvered, and decorated with noble materials to line out its uniquity. Wearing nature's refinement and preciousness, is the philosophy in each unique piece of my 'Oro di Mare' artwork jewelry".

- Sabine's booth at a craft exhibition on Crete -