Ildze Bogana's childhood in Latvia was steeped in a blend of ancient magical beliefs shared by her mother and the scientific precision of her father, who patiently answered her endless "why?" and "how?" questions. This dual influence continues to shape her creative process today.

Her journey to jewellery-making followed a winding path, beginning with sculpture and printmaking before a spoken wish led her to a jeweller's atelier. There, she apprenticed and mastered traditional techniques. However, it was her studies at the Jewellery Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where she earned her Master’s degree, that truly defined her as a jewellery artist and solidified her distinctive style.

Ildze’s creations are characterised by a playful interplay of intricate, movable metal constructions and found objects and materials. As a maker of tangible objects, she grapples with the paradox of creating in a world oversaturated with human-made things. Through her jewellery, she confronts this existential tension, using her practice as a means to reimagine and revive forgotten objects.

Her work becomes a game of memory and reinvention, breathing new meaning into discarded materials and transforming them into wearable art that challenges and delights.

Ildze Bogana is a jewellery artist based in Latvia that creates her work integrating delicate mechanical solutions with ready objects of different origins. For Ildze, jewellery making is a playground and a space for experimentation, sourcing inspiration both from the found things and from exploration of mechanical principles. Feeling the materials with her own hands is therefore an intrinsic part of the creative process. Possibility for movement in the jewellery piece is necessary as it is a signal of life force enclosed, as well as brings it closer to the human body. Movement allows for the creation of an unheard story. Element of game and active participation in the affair of arriving at the image of a jewel is crucial in this, and Ildze has set out to make this experience accessible to everyone.

Ildze perceives the jewellery setting as one that can endow anything with the aura of a glamorous gem, changing perception. And a change in perception is very close to changing the material reality. This thought is inspiring to her, and she hopes to share this inspiration with people ready to participate in the game of reinvention of things and ideas.