Russian-born goldsmith Nora Kogan is the designer behind St. Kilda, the Brooklyn-based jewelry line. Nora grew up in St. Kilda, a seaside neighborhood outside of Melbourne, Australia, and studied goldsmithing at Northern Melbourne Institute of Technology where she learned the technical aspects of jewelry making. She moved to New York, and began her career working for Me & Ro, and a short 2 years later she started her own company.
Hummingbird Pendant
Innovative designer St. Kilda brings us this inspired hummingbird pendant. Unique and bold but still perfect for an elegant evening out. Its versatility will work with any collection. Made with engraved sterling silver. 16 1/4" chain length, 1" diameter pendant. Handcrafted in Brooklyn.
$148
Nora's delicate and feminine designs come in sterling, 18k rose gold, and 18k yellow gold, and are often accented with high-quality diamonds, rubies, or sapphires. Many items feature sweet engravings. St. Kilda jewelry has been featured in Lucky, Blueprint, Self, and Glamour magazines. Scarlett Johansson already has a few pieces, and Keri Russell wears her Anaconda necklace all the time.
Iris Crescent Necklace
10 Karat yellow gold, chain measures 16" in length.
$475
Nora's goal is to design beautiful jewelry that outlives trends. Each piece is handcrafted, using traditional methods, such as millegrain – a setting in which a gemstone is secured with tiny beads of metal. Each piece is hand finished in a production process described as "rigorous and intensely personal." St. Kilda jewelry is truly timeless and sure to be cherished forever.
Bird On A Branch Necklace
This necklace is wonderfully whimsical. A gold crescent-shaped medallion is engraved with a bird on a tree branch with berries on it. The delicate chain measures 16" in length. Medallion is 1 1/4" in diameter. Gold wire hook clasp. A gal who is passionate about nature will surely be the proud owner of this fabulous necklace.
$406
Artist Statement
I grew up in a house by the Black Sea where my grandfather collected books, my father collected knives, and my mother collected jewelry. When my parents and I left Odessa for good, my mother hid her jewels in a transistor radio that she entrusted to me, all of ten years old, during the long train ride from Russia to Italy. I spent the fourth grade living in Ostia, a coastal town outside of Rome, in a dilapidated villa on the beach.
A year later we settled in Melbourne, Australia, in a seedy seaside neighborhood called St. Kilda. Then, St. Kilda was populated with artists, local aborigines, junkies, holocaust survivors, intellectuals, and émigrés. The streets were full of Eastern European delis, Austrian cake shops, and secondhand bookstores. Old Jewish men congregated on corners during the day, and prostitutes came out at night. Victorian mansions, Art Deco apartment buildings, palm trees, and the beach made a surreal backdrop.
By age thirteen, I was obsessed with fashion and was cutting school regularly to devour back issues of Vogue in the state library. When I did go to class, I was more concerned about what I was going to wear than with studying. Instead of doing homework, I spent hours drawing or sitting on my mother's bed going through her bag of jewelry – including the stuff we smuggled out of Russia – inspecting the pieces over and over. (Now that my mother has died, and those pieces are mine, I still love to do it.)
After I deferred from Uni (for the second time!), I left Australia and spent almost ten years living abroad, mostly throughout Europe and Japan. During my last big adventure, I studied in a yeshiva in Israel, in a town called Tsfat, known for its artist colony and as the birthplace of Kabalah. It was there – in one of the most spiritual and least materialistic places on earth – that I realized I wanted to be a jewelry designer.
Eventually I sought out two local jewelers who became my friends and informal mentors. Sitting at a jeweler's bench for the first time crystallized it for me. I knew I needed to go home and study jewelry seriously. Leaving that beautiful ancient city, where I lived in an old house with a view of Mount Meron, wasn't easy.
Back in Australia, I began to study goldsmithing at Northern Melbourne Institute of Technology. I wanted to learn the technical aspects of making jewelry. I don't believe you can design something without an intimate understanding of how it's constructed. I completed my degree and began an apprenticeship that was cut short when I got the opportunity to move to New York to work for Me & Ro Jewelry.
Two years later I started my own company, St. Kilda. My goal is to design and create beautiful jewelry that outlives trends. St. Kilda is based in Brooklyn, New York, where I live and where all of my jewelry is made.
I can't imagine anything more gratifying than making something and finding an audience for it.
-Nora Kogan
