Moskvich
Ilgiz Fazulzyanov is the only Russian jeweler and enameller who has received great international recognition. He is a two-time winner of the jewelry Oscar, the Grand Prix of the International Jewelery Design Excellence Award in Hong Kong, has collaborated with the legendary watch house Bovet and Van Cleef&Arpels, his galleries are open in Moscow and Paris.
We know the jewelry brands Cartier , Tiffany , Van Cleef & Arpels and don’t know Russian jewelers at all. Why is that?
Firstly, it has to do with the media. They print what you have to pay money for, and these companies have a lot of funding. Designer jewelry doesn't have that kind of money. I think this is the fault of both the Ministry of Culture and the publications themselves. They could have allocated at least 15–20% of advertising for global brands to local craftsmen. Do it as a charity, or something, so that artists in our country develop.
Then there is the art of authorship - it is not very developed everywhere. There are only a few of us in all countries. Recently a jeweler came to see me from England and said that they have exactly the same situation, where jewelery authors cannot develop themselves: to start a business they need financial investments, maintenance costs, there is nothing to say about advertising. Masters are forced to go to large companies that absorb them. As a result, no one knows their names.
Yourself and your brand I lgiz F . you classify it as designer jewelry, boutique and unnoticed by the general public. How did you achieve, if not fame, then recognition?
I am not the only unique master in Russia. Another question is that not every artist has a commercial streak, the spirit of a businessman. What is business? It's just not to be afraid, invest money and move forward. Somewhere I was losing money, but I understood that I would achieve my goal. To reach this result - for 28 years now - I have not violated my goal and my style. I started with the most difficult things, went into the red, no one bought my things, it happened, but I still knew that sooner or later some doors would open. This went on for about 15 years. Now a certain world knows me. If someone really needs jewelry that is high quality, handmade, it’s all for me.
Your jewelry is not just made with high quality, it is impeccable. The reverse side of pendants, earrings, necklaces and rings is in no way inferior to the external side, either in processing or design.
There is no other way. The same Cartier and Van Cleef are no longer jewelry, they are more jewelry. Only from precious metals. This is all massive, but due to materials and marketing it costs a lot of money.
But big brands make high jewelry collections...
This is, in our understanding, high art from the perspective of ordinary people. For example, if Cartier and Van Cleef still maintain jewelry technology somewhere, then in others many things are no longer made with jewelry. There is such a concept - jewelry technology. For example, Chanel makes jewelry using costume jewelry technology.
What is the difference?
These are connections, assembly, processing. There are a lot of moments. For most today, value lies in the brand and the cost of materials - a large diamond, sapphire, ruby. Nowadays there are few people who pay attention to the quality of work, aesthetics, and artistic component. Luckily for me, these few know about us.
Your works are so self-sufficient that you begin to doubt whether they can be worn.
I wouldn't say that. You only see these works bright and shiny in the window. Once you put them on, you get completely different looks. They are discreet, begin to fit into the silhouette and character of a person, so everyone finds their own item. The same red poppies glow warmly on some people, but on others they actually burn. This is enamel, a living material. My things are different from those items that are all in diamonds, sparkle and sparkle. Yes, we also use these stones, only delicately. I prefer interesting stones that create an image to diamonds. For each decision, we look for a specific color of the stone, its tonality, and degree of luminescence. Yellowish-green vesuvian, sphene, brightly shining demantoid, we even use hazy blue aquamarines that other jewelers may consider low grade. But for me it is a unique stone that paints an image.
Your main “paint” is jewelry enamel, a highly complex technique. Are you trying any new materials?
Jewelers are constantly using new materials. There was Bakelite, an artificial resin used to make locomotive parts in the Soviet Union and into bracelets in the United States. JAR worked with automotive enamels: they dry at low temperatures and adhere firmly. Titanium, finally, is not a jewelry material, but it has also begun to be used. Now there is another new material - nanostal. This is a glass-crystalline material made using nanotechnology. It has the hardness of quartz, but the shine is much better. You can set it to any color and transparency.
I prefer interesting stones that create an image to diamonds.
I use moissanite, an artificially grown silica-based stone. It has dispersion, the ability to shimmer, higher than that of a diamond. I also work with jewelry resins. This is an inexpensive composite material that is used more in modeling and construction. They can be hard, durable, and elastic, depending on what exactly you want to do. Products made from them are large, but weightless. Imagine a chrysanthemum flower. It would be impossible to do it in gold, it would be too heavy, but with resins it is possible.
Modern technologies make it possible to achieve completely new effects at a fairly low cost. Another question is to what extent these experiments will become part of the permanent repertoire of jewelry art. If well-known companies and craftsmen work with such materials, they will be recorded in it.
Tell us about the engineering solutions behind your work.
Each product is carefully thought out. It is very important how it will be located, how it will contact the body. For example, in large earrings the weight should be distributed correctly so that the earlobe does not feel it. Reliability of connections is very important, especially in moving parts. Technical discoveries and ideas are very important for large things - pendants, brooches, necklaces. On the one hand, they attract attention, on the other, they allow the implementation of innovative ideas. And by the way, they surround us in great numbers. They can even be found in children's prefabricated toys; it is important only then to turn it into a jewelry connection.
Your opinion about the “costume jewelry” value of jewelry is interesting, because some buyers invest in them in order to monetize them in difficult times.
Let's be clear about what a jewelry investment is. This is beneficial when there is a secondary market. Let's say we invest in securities, sell them on the stock exchange or through a broker, and return some funds. In the jewelry business, investments are complex, very long, although they bring a unique interest rate. No securities bring such income. But the right investment will only be the item that you initially buy below the market price.
Due to the fact that there are no secondary markets other than auction houses, our people’s segment of investment items is immediately narrowing. They limit themselves only to precious stones. And this is what happens with this in Russia: when the stone is brought into the country, it increases in value quite significantly. Taking it out of here becomes problematic - customs, insurance, etc. That is, you can no longer put it up for a decent auction. Anyone who has encountered this once understands that he will no longer do this. Because you need to know the tools. If they turn to brokers for securities, then everyone relies only on themselves.
As for jewelry, it increases in price if it was owned by a famous person. Plus they must be original, there must be an artistic component. Let's take Lalique. His products were initially of no use to anyone. But Gulbenkian appeared (Calouste Gulbenkian, an oil magnate of the first half of the 20th century, a collector, bought part of the Hermitage paintings during sales in the 1930s. Together with the collection of René Lalique’s jewelry, they are exhibited in the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. - Author’s note), then appeared there were also people who bought his jewelry, wrote books about him, held exhibitions, promoted him. Many art dealers now work with artists this way. But people bought jewelry from us, put it in a safe and think that in five years it will increase in price. But there are no guarantees for this.
A smart client does things differently. I have a client in London. His daughter worked as a lawyer at Christie's and knows how the art market works. They held an exhibition, published a book, made a year-long tour of America with my products, and also made money from this. This is a smart approach. Products should not live in a safe, they need an audience. Plus there may also be customer consolidation. There is a master, clients gather around him and collect his products. Need to make an exhibition? These people invest in the exhibition, donate products for the exhibition, make a catalog, and make a profit. This is what is called the investment component. For example, JAR is the same (the jewelry house of Joël Arthur Rosenthal, known for its select clientele, the perfection of jewelry and the absence of advertising. - Author's note). His value became so high because of his clients, not because of himself.
Do your clients do this too?
I would like to, but the majority of people buy jewelry for themselves personally and hope that time will pass and, thanks to me, their jewelry will increase in price. I, of course, hope that this will happen, and I am trying very hard to be one of those few jewelers in the world who have achieved something. There are many jewelers who work for large companies or, conversely, sit at home and make one or two pieces a year. And those who are well-known, who release albums, who are known about, who participate in museum exhibitions, are few.
By the way, about exhibitions. Your name sounded loud just after such an exhibition, held in 2016. For four months your works were exhibited in the exhibition hall of the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin. How did this become possible?
For many years we made our way to museums: to the Kremlin, to the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin. I had a task - to hold a large-scale exhibition. Nobody accepted us. The Kremlin happened by the will of fate. In 2009, there was an exhibition of the treasures of the Indian Maharajas; a group of important people came from England, among whom were descendants of the Maharajas. Everyone gathered in Gagarina’s office (Elena Gagarina is the general director of the Moscow Kremlin Museum-Reserve - Author’s note) and began talking about jewelry art. And among other things they say, you know, in Russia there lives a jeweler with a very complex name. A Kremlin employee who knew me very well was sitting there. “Isn’t it Fazulzyanov by any chance?” - “Exactly, exactly. We would love to see him and see his work live.” Gagarina asked if she could somehow call me. We immediately agree on a date. I am informed that the meeting should be conditionally at one o'clock in the afternoon. Gagarina arrived at 11 o’clock to check how good the premises were. When she came to my office, she saw that there were flowers everywhere and the smell of coffee... She was shocked. She knows that jewelry workshops are always smoky and dirty, she probably thought we were sitting in some kind of basement. Instead of forty minutes, they sat with me for five hours. And then Elena Yuryevna said that she wanted to hold an exhibition with me in the Kremlin. The following week we began preparations that lasted two years.
As for jewelry, it increases in price if it was owned by a famous person. Plus they must be original, there must be an artistic component.
We took some works from private collections. The idea of the exhibition was to show my growth as a master. From the first, uncertain works to today’s 100% verified masterpieces. But I set myself a task: at least 80% of the work had to be done specifically for this exhibition. I showed the Kremlin administration what works would be presented, and the sketches were approved. This is because the exhibition included different technical capabilities and different directions to make the exhibition multifaceted. I wanted to create such a collection that people would walk around two or three times and not realize that they were looking at the same thing, so that they would not get bored. Today, holding a jewelry exhibition of a specific author is not such a common occurrence. We exhibited 170 works, and this was also unprecedented for a modern master. I was pleased that the Kremlin bought some works after the exhibition and continues to expand its collection to this day. There are now about 30 of them in the Armory Chamber's collections.
There was very high attendance. People came from all continents. It even turned out that Tiffany sent its employees to my exhibition. There, in the Kremlin, I heard a visitor say: “Finally, you can see modern masters, otherwise everyone shows what happened 100–200 years ago. It’s as if we don’t even have masters.” Simple words, but so accessible and understandable. Indeed, everyone is used to watching what once was, but no one shows what really exists in their own country, because it is impossible to break through. I really want to make an exhibition of individual craftsmen who make jewelry as an object of art. One such master can create only one or two works in a year. To collect bit by bit the outstanding works of masters from the country or even the world into an exhibition or an entire museum is my big dream.
Is it difficult to be a jeweler?
Roerich wrote to Princess Maria Tenisheva, who was a philanthropist and enamel artist: “You are engaged in art, which is its highest point. It is the most complex, the most voluminous of the arts.” Jewelry art unites all types of arts, technologies, and the capabilities of the people for a given period of time. A jeweler must be very versatile. Must know the basics of drawing, painting, sculpture, space and architecture. He must know chemistry, physics and mathematics. And you need to combine all this knowledge to create a thing with your hands. We often have one artist and another jeweler. Many designers suffer from this - they bring a drawing to the master, but he will do it differently. This is an eternal problem.
It’s interesting that there’s something like a boom among young people now: “I want to be a jeweler.” I talked about why they go into the profession. And you know, everyone really dreams of working in the fashion industry, but they think that it’s already difficult to break into dressmaking. They begin to think that photography or jewelry design is something in which they can express themselves. Like any other field related to aesthetics, jewelry design is attractive. But no one sees the other side: you have to sit at a workbench, with dirty fingers, forcing the metal to obey you.
And young consumers are coming to you, do you feel any change in demand?
Today, interest in purchasing real jewelry is falling very sharply. He may disappear altogether. Young people are more interested in jewelry. Even my daughter, she is 28 years old, says why buy earrings for 20-30 thousand dollars, it is expensive and impractical, you will still have to store them, think about safety. I’ll buy myself jewelry for 2-3 thousand for a party, under a dress. Then I can give it to someone. Today, image is more important than the artistic value of jewelry. I liked the words of Elena Veselaya: “Today there are no people who know how to wear jewelry like those women in the 20th century.” These women have a different spirit. Jeans and “simple” diamond earrings have become new classics, but this in no way develops the art of jewelry, only the business of diamond mining companies.
Does this mean that jewelery is a dying profession?
Not at all. But it is important to pose another question: how today, when people want to look more than buy, transfer jewelry items to a different state.
That is, the prospect of the jewelry business is to transfer jewelry from the state of wearable pieces to art pieces?
Exactly. People have more desire to admire than to acquire something. And we are now trying to create an exhibition collection to show throughout Russia and abroad.
I can't help but think about the 15 years you spent searching for yourself. You do something all the time, but do not receive support from the outside - this is a very difficult situation. Where does it get its resources from?
Obsession with an idea is a great resource. Energy resources are also provided by clients who express their emotions. You realize that you are on the right path. This is enough for many people. But my goal was not just to earn money, but to reach the pinnacle of jewelry art. My goal is to reach the highest point of excellence. Each work is a new look, new technical capabilities. All funds have always been invested in the work process. I still catch myself thinking that I probably haven’t yet created that final object that I’ve been working towards for many years. Probably, all my works are all stages towards something. People ask me if I keep anything. No never. There are works that I give to my wife, which she keeps personally. As an artist, I don’t say, “This is my masterpiece, I’m not selling it.” If I say that even once, I won’t create anything better tomorrow. I should always feel dissatisfied with myself. You need to be very critical of yourself in order to grow.
Brooch pendant “Poppies”
Ring "Himalayas", ring "Ararat"
Earrings “Tokapu”, earrings “Inca”
What is the origin and meaning of the name Ilgiz
First of all, it’s worth understanding where it came from and what it means. So, what is the origin and meaning of the name Ilgiz? Researchers have no doubt that it has Turkic roots.
A man's name is formed from two parts. “Il” is the first part, which means “world”, “country”. “Giz” is the second part, which is translated into our language as “to go.” Consequently, the meaning of the name Ilgiz is “traveler”, “walking around the world”.
It can also be written with the letter “e” - Elgiz, and the variant Ilgis is also found. The name gained great popularity among the Tatars.
Career
What does the name Ilgiz mean in terms of its influence on your career? This man should pay attention to professions that involve the ability to persuade with words and empathy. This person will make an excellent politician, diplomat, teacher, doctor. He will feel in his place by choosing one of these professions.
Ilgiz should not start his own business, as he will not succeed as a businessman. This man is categorically not suitable for an occupation that involves constant manifestation of firmness and will. If Ilgiz tries to engage in entrepreneurial activity, he will go bankrupt or become a victim of scammers.
Fate
How are the meaning of a name and fate related? The name Ilgiz gives its owner great potential. Unfortunately, natural modesty does not allow him to realize it. This man must certainly fight his complexes and develop self-confidence. Otherwise, he will not be able to succeed in life.
Ilgiz is a person who not only is not afraid of change, but even welcomes it. Unexpectedly for everyone, this man may leave for another city or country. There is a high probability that this bold decision will allow him to start over, overcome his complexes and gain self-confidence.
Ilgiz is a guy who is ready to devote himself to his chosen business. We can talk about both a favorite profession and family.
Family
Ilgiz, the meaning of the name, character and fate of which are discussed in this article, does not have a penchant for early marriage. A person gives up his freedom already in adulthood. In his youth, the owner of the name can marry either under the pressure of circumstances, or out of great and crazy passion.
Ilgiz is an excellent family man. He is devoted to his wife and children, takes care of them, tries to fulfill all their desires. This man easily gives the role of head of the family to his wife. He doesn’t like conflicts and easily gives in to small things.
In childhood
What can you tell us about the meaning of the name Ilgiz for a boy? What should parents who call their son this name prepare for? Will it be easy or difficult for them with him? This child is calm and obedient. Ilgiz prefers to play with kids younger than himself, as he is openly afraid of his peers.
The boy reads a lot and is actively interested in science. He rarely has problems with his studies. His ability and hard work allow him to get good grades. However, Ilgiz suffers from a lack of self-confidence and is afraid to attract attention to himself. He is unlike other children, so he may be subject to bullying and ridicule from his peers.
It will be great if Ilgiz attends the sports section. This will help him get rid of complexes and gain self-confidence.
Love
What is the meaning of the male name Ilgiz, if we talk about the relationship of its owner with the opposite sex? This guy has nothing to do with a self-confident macho, but women like him. Ladies often even compete for his attention.
The ability and desire to be led is perhaps the main quality that attracts women. Ilgiz is able to completely dissolve in his chosen one and hand over the “reins of power” to her. And also the fair sex likes the sincerity of this guy, his ability to empathize.
What kind of girls is Ilgiz attracted to? The stupid beauty has no chance of winning his heart. This guy gives importance not to external, but to internal beauty. He wants an educated, intelligent, sympathetic and sincere girl next to him.
Advantages and disadvantages
The meaning of the name Ilgiz helps to understand what positive and negative traits this man is endowed with. It's easy to highlight the advantages. This man is kind and sympathetic. He always helps those who are in trouble. Ilgiz is inquisitive and learns throughout his life. He is always sincere, never tries to achieve his goal by deception. People around him are attracted to this person's positive attitude.
Ilgiz's main problem is his shyness. Lack of self-confidence prevents the owner of the name from moving forward and achieving success. Complexes make him become indecisive, he hesitates where active action is needed. Ilgiz must under no circumstances ignore her main problem. He must develop self-confidence.
Characteristics of the name by letter
How does the meaning of the name Ilgiz affect the character? The letters contained in the name will help you figure this out.
- "AND". This is a sign of kindness, peacefulness, sensitivity, spirituality. A person hides his emotions from others and does not allow anyone to penetrate his inner world.
- "L". The letter indicates a subtle perception of beauty. This person may have artistic talents. The main thing is that he does not waste his life in vain, understands his true purpose and follows it.
- "b". This is a sign of the ability to put everything into order. A person will never get bogged down in problems; order always reigns in his affairs.
- "G". The letter indicates curiosity, the desire to penetrate other people's secrets. The person pays attention to details and misses nothing. He always performs the work assigned to him conscientiously.
- "Z". This is a sign that a person is trying to hide from the outside world, to protect himself from it. He has a rich imagination and spends a lot of time in his fantasies. A person refuses to solve problems that arise and allows them to accumulate. Soon they will turn into a snowball that will fall on him. He needs to once and for all abandon the position of an ostrich hiding its head in the sand. If he takes responsibility for his life, then everything will start to get better.
