Friday Feature: Urban Raven Shop

Shiran, the creator of the Urban Raven, transforms seemingly useless junk into wearable works of art.

Image courtesy of Shiran Tal @ Urban Raven

Image courtesy of Shiran Tal @ Urban Raven

Business establishment:

I live in Zichron Yaakov, Israel and founded Urban Raven in 2013

While studying industrial design at HIT College, I became interested in jewelry design and began learning it on my own. It became a true passion, so I ended my studies in industrial design and am currently a goldsmith student. Ever since I was a child, I always loved design and working with my hands, but I never thought I would be doing it for a living.

I was introduced to the world of upcycling after I had already begun experimenting with jewelry making and it was a god sent! It led me to creative searches through the flea market in Yafo (Jaffa) where I looked for items I could reinvent and sell to pay off my student loans. Unfortunately, even at the flea market, the items were too pricey for me and I just couldn’t see a way to make a living off of them. However, it was there that a broken beer bottle happened to catch my eye and fill me with inspiration about creating beautiful pieces out of discarded objects. I began experimenting with glass, smashing a few bottles at home, and worked with the random shards that naturally broke off. What resulted from those first experiments was beautiful and produced an excited reaction from friends and family. That’s when I truly realized that I had found a way to enjoy design, challenge myself and create unique pieces that would be environmentally friendly (very important) and still quite beautiful.

A few months later I came across my brother’s old stamp collection. It was so distinctive and wonderful that I decided to try and incorporate the stamps into my jewelry. I even got a few stamp donations from friends and acquaintances. The end product was a collection of nostalgic, historical, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Target audience:

Up until now I was reaching my customers mostly online, people who liked something new and make a statement,  both getting the beauty out of everyday items but also eco chic and transforming discarded items into jewelry.

In one word - Upcyclers!

Now a days I'm making my first steps into placing my products in fitting jewelry retailers shop, which is very challenging to do and keep a friendly price on my creations.

Staff:

It's only me! 

Fun Fact:

When I started to branch out and look for anything and everything that I could turn into jewelry. My mother works in the world of high-tech and suggested that I might use castoff computer chips to create something. The computer chips turned out to be great material to work with because they are so intricate and lovely just as they are. All I needed to do was bring out their inner potential in terms of design.

Also a lot of the glasses work came from nights of drinking with friends, so they have built-in good vibes!

I sale only online currently - Etsy | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter & also on tictail urbanraven.tictail.com :)

I attend outdoor events but only in Israel so far!