I’m all the time recreation to know extra about jewelers I’ve by no means heard of, and once I discovered that Latvia-born Rafka Koblence was a former Olympic wrestler—a distinction he earned in Israel, quickly after his household immigrated there in 1966—I used to be immediately drawn in. My first cousin as soon as eliminated (who’s extra like a nephew) Richard Fedalen is a rising star on the worldwide junior wrestling circuit, and I requested him if he’d heard of Koblence. He had not. However as my nephew is a historical past buff (in addition to a world-class athlete), I believe he has virtually definitely heard of the bloodbath on the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The vicious terror assault claimed the lives of a number of members of Israel’s Olympic wrestling staff, all Koblence’s former teammates. His beloved coach was additionally among the many slain.
It’s an occasion that haunts Koblence to today—as a result of it’s solely by likelihood that he wasn’t on the Olympics that 12 months. “I used to be on the nationwide staff till 1972, once I had a falling out with the top Israeli referee and determined to go to my household within the U.S. with a purpose to keep away from competing for the staff on the Munich Olympic Video games,” Koblence tells JCK. When the tragedy struck, “I usually blamed myself, considering had I been there I may need died, however with one further man issues might have been completely different. I used to be tormented and unhappy for a few years.”
In America, he sought solace in a brand new profession path, that of a supplier of classic and property jewellery in Boston. When rising up in Riga, Latvia, lengthy earlier than his wrestling profession intervened, he’d come throughout a e-book that includes jewellery collections by Peter Carl Fabergé completely designed for the Russian royal court docket. The intricacy of the jewels made a long-lasting impression on the younger Koblence—and the need to sometime design jewels of his personal creation lingered behind his unconscious, propelling him within the route of the jewellery trade when he discovered himself in want of a brand new skilled objective.
In 1979, he moved his workplace to New York’s forty seventh Avenue, the place he labored with a accomplice as a purchaser, vendor, and polisher of diamonds. “On the time, I used to be elevating a household with three children and couldn’t afford but to pursue my ardour of constructing one-of-a-kind jewellery,” he says. However working in New York’s jewellery commerce bought him nearer and nearer to his dream of at some point launching an eponymous workshop, and afforded him the chance to show himself the artwork of designing and handcrafting jewellery.
Rafka & Co. opened its doorways in 1996, and Koblence has quietly been designing bespoke jewellery for personal shoppers ever since.
Now a grasp jeweler, he’s obsessed with visible and structural particulars and old-world craftsmanship methods. “I draw a whole lot of inspiration from traditional and weird shapes, ones that could be exhausting to make into jewellery,” he says. “I additionally love to have a look at high quality stones and supplies and picture all the weird shapes and designs I can create with them.”
When he displays on the Munich tragedy, it’s clear it has had a profound impact on his evolution as a designer. “The one time I discovered peace in my thoughts was once I began creating jewellery of my desires. In being true to myself and honoring the reminiscence of my fallen mates and lecturers, I used to be lastly in a position to flip the web page and transfer on,” he says.
Does the designer see any parallels between wrestling and making jewellery?
“Innovation,” says Koblence. “Whether or not it’s creating alternatives to make my opponent fly or ruminating over complicated designs and items, innovation, dedication, and focus are central.” [According to my nephew, to make your opponent “fly” is to literally throw them in the air during a match—a classic Greco-Roman wrestling takedown that only happens at the highest level.]
Koblence has been engaged on a brand new assortment titled Dreamcatcher, a variety impressed by conventional Native American dream catchers.
Every Dreamcatcher design is marked with delicately entangled wire that has summary beginning and finish factors.
“It started as an epiphany one night time a number of years in the past after struggling for weeks of restlessness,” says Koblence. “I envisioned a dream catcher, with all its entangled wires and complexity swooping right down to take my desires away. The enthralling facet of the dream catcher is the complicated community of entangled wires.
“By means of the chaos, one can’t discover the place the wire begins or ends, and but it creates an attractive sample.”
It’s an thought greatest understood within the jewels themselves, highlighted under.
And as for the athletes who misplaced their lives in Munich that day, might their reminiscence be a blessing.
Dreamcatcher pendant earrings in 18k yellow gold with diamonds and emeralds, worth on request
Dreamcatcher ring in 18k rose gold and platinum with diamonds, worth on request
Dreamcatcher earrings in 18k white gold with 30.85 cts. t.w. diamonds, worth on request
Dreamcatcher ring in 18k rose gold and platinum with spherical diamonds and diverse fancy and round-shape coloured diamonds, worth on request
Dreamcatcher earrings in 18k rose gold with 14.69 cts. t.w. diamonds, worth on request
Dreamcatcher earrings in 18k rose gold with 31.68 cts. t.w. assorted fancy and round-shape white and coloured diamonds, worth on request
Prime: Dreamcatcher ring in 18k yellow gold with emeralds and diamonds, worth on request
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