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Elena Kriegner spent her childhood in the sleepy Austrian country village of Winklpoint, which had about 10 houses and where "the streets had no name."
In Winklpoint no one had or wore jewelry. But that didn't daunt the entrepreneurial Elena, who at age 6 declared to her family: "I want to be a jewelry maker."
The choice came as a surprise, but in the following years her family watched her make jewelry. Her creations were often improvised; she once used flash bulbs from the family camera as gemstones.
As a teenager, Elena's determination to follow her calling led her to leave her tiny hometown and family to attend a school 120 miles away.
"It was hard, but for me there was no way back," Elena says. "And it made me strong."
Indeed it did. Elena passed an entrance exam at one of Europe's top jewelry design schools where she trained as a bench jeweler and eventually became a goldsmith. After two more years of study, she was awarded a "master jewelry maker" degree.
Whether she is in her native Austria, sailing in the Caribbean, or digging for special gemstones in New York's diamond district, Elena Kriegner is always looking for something different.
A lover of technical challenges, Elena enjoys nothing more than coming up with a new way to make jewelry more versatile.
"As I traveled around, I realized how important it is to be flexible. Not only in your mindset, but also in design," Elena says. "I wanted my jewelry designs to be as versatile as possible yet still beautiful."
While there's no denying her jewelry creations are clean, contemporary and wearable, they are also often interchangeable, featuring the ability to convert one piece into a different silhouette, or exchange gems within a piece-ready to adapt to the next outfit.
"If a piece was 'only a ring,' it wasn't enough," Elena says. "It comes back to how I grew up. Things, including jewelry, needed to be practical."
Elena also specializes in enhancing gemstones with unusual cuts and settings that highlight the brilliance of their colors.
"Gemstones are like the colors of life," she says. "And color makes your life more beautiful."
Elena set up her first business in her hometown in Austria where she created one-of-a-kind jewelry for private clients.
"I knew that I wasn't suited for traditional jewelry. I have my own ideas about jewelry and how to express myself," Elena recalls.
Her derring-do led Elena to explore beyond Austria. She traveled to South Africa to work with expert gem cutters. She taught jewelry design in Greece.
Soon her wanderlust took her on an adventure of a lifetime: circumnavigating the globe with a friend aboard a 32-foot sailboat. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean and stopping along the Caribbean, she decided to sail till New York City to visit her sister.
She ended up staying a few months, which cemented her love for American culture. For several years, she summered in New York and continued to sail the rest of the year until, in 2007, she moved to the United States full-time.
Love the simple lines of Prada. I'm not too much into florals. And Jean Paul Gaultier.
They've developed their own styles so they don't necessarily follow what is "the latest." They pick special pieces that make a statement.
The Firework earrings in any color, whatever suits your personality or mood. They look amazing from across the room.
My new Michael Kors trench coat that I bought when it was really hot and I couldn't wear it yet.
I'll be going sailing around Long Island. Also, Austria for my mom's 70th birthday, and the Caribbean for Christmas.
A smoky quartz tusk pendant I designed.
I'd have to say the Spectra earrings. They go with everything all year around.
Madonna. Especially in her early years, when she created her own sense of style.
Airline miles. I love to travel.
I couldn't name a particular person. What I find most fascinating is someone who follows her own style and is comfortable with it, no matter what the fashion.
A person who is self-assured, has a sophisticated style and doesn't need a status name to be confident in herself.
If you come from a small town where no one really wore jewelry, and your dream in life was to be a jewelry designer, then your imagination must come into play. As a child growing up in a tiny town in Austria, Elena Kriegner started making jewelry using paper clips and camera bulbs. That sense of ingenuity and resourcefulness paid off later when, as a seasoned master jeweler, Elena came up with her concept of interchangeable jewelry: sterling silver and gemstone pieces that can be worn as pendants, earrings or rings. It's the perfect solution for the modern woman who wants a change of jewelry, whether she's travelling or just matching her latest outfit.
Shop this collection
When talking about her Spectra collection, which features gemstones set in shiny sterling silver, designer Elena Kriegner brings up a good point: bigger is better, but often has a bigger price. Not so with Spectra. Elena uses clear, bright gemstones that are wall-set (no prongs) and secured in place with mirror-like sterling silver that reflects their color, making them appear even larger than their actual size. "I have had women tell me that people approach them from the other side of the room because they couldn't believe the color," Elena says. That's why these crowd pleasers are such a hit.
Venus, the goddess of love, is long been connected with pearls, and no wonder, they both are "born from the sea." But in the creative mind of designer Elena Kriegner, the pure forms of the pearls remain whole, undrilled and perfect. By using her keen know how for creating interchangeable jewelry, Elena's Venus collection has rings and earrings that hold the whole pearl secure and elegantly. Like her other interchangeable collections, the Venus pieces can be changed and played with with ease, thanks to Elena's fetes of jewelry engineering.
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