Hi, I'm Tatiana Iakovleva, the founder of the SÕNUM jewellery brand.
SÕNUM means "Message" in Estonian. In my jewellery, I combine my love for nature, calligraphy and jewellery art in a unique and exclusive way.
For the past 11 years, I have been doing calligraphy. I am fascinated by the beauty of both European and Old Slavonic calligraphy. This rich heritage left to us by the great calligraphers should not be forgotten, so now I turn calligraphic handwriting into exclusive handmade products of gold and silver, with accents of precious and semi-precious stones.
The main idea of my brand is to combine European as well as Old Slavonic calligraphy with jewellery art, bringing something new to both fields of art - and also to give an opportunity to the person who orders jewellery from me to feel what is really important to them, what words or phrases they would like to write in silver, gold or even diamonds. Communicate your values by immortalising your message in precious metal, creating a piece of jewellery that can be passed down from generation to generation.
The main sources of my inspiration when creating designs are northern nature. When I try to capture and portray something that is impossible to touch - feelings, emotions, mood - letters are transformed in such a way that often my calligraphy becomes abstract, more decorative. It is akin to the Chinese style of calligraphy "Shiatsu", herbal writing, where the emphasis is placed primarily on the transfer of emotion and certain energy rather than on readability. Therefore, my calligraphic decorations are abstract and often you can find natural forms in them.
Each piece of the SÕNUM brand has its own unique, calligraphic style. When I work on an individual order, I try to feel through intuition which calligraphic style reflects the nature of a person, which is why it is so interesting to work with people from different cultures and to explore this huge field of calligraphic experiments.