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NILUFER KIZILKAYA

NILUFER KIZILKAYA CELEBRATES HER LIFE IN LONDON WITH NEW COLLECTION

Nilufer Kizilkaya, who was born in Istanbul and has been based in London over the past 20 years, is driving forward her jewellery brand, GFG Jewellery by Nilufer, which has a big social media following and has acquired stockists in the UK. GFG Jewellery is now expanding to the United States.

LONDON – Nilufer Kizilkaya, Creative Director of GFG Jewellery by Nilufer, has taken inspiration from her teenage years in Istanbul, and a career in financial services, to build an international jewellery brand that is now stocked by retailers in the UK.Nilufer creates designs for GFG Jewellery, which means “Gift From Gods,” around responsibly sourced emeralds, rubies and amethysts uncovered by miner Gemfields, as well as other gemstones and diamonds.GFG Jewellery’s handmade designs are light, feminine and elegant, encapsulating timeless beauty that appeals to her female clientele. GFG Jewellery is stocked online by upmarket UK retailer Harvey Nichols, and in high end showrooms including Kabiri, and To The Nine, in London; and Muse jewellery showroom in New York City. Nilufer’s fascination with gems has remained with her since childhood when her mother took her to their jeweller in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and she fell in love with the sparkle of diamonds and the sumptuous colours of the stones.“I have a cultural heritage that drives me to a love for precious gemstones and gold,” she says. During her career as a young woman working as a banker in London, she continued to pursue her interests in gems and jewellery making during her free time and would surprise colleagues with her latest designs.  Eventually she left her banking job to pursue her passion for jewellery full-time, and has raised her profile in the jewellery world, winning awards and giving talks about trends.To mark her 20th anniversary of living in London, Nilufer has introduced a new collection called PROJECT 20/20, featuring emeralds – the gemstone typically used for celebrating 20th anniversaries.

The new collection comprises rings, earrings and a necklace. Each earring contains responsibly sourced emeralds from Gemfields, and white diamonds. All of the jewellery in the collection incorporates a metal circle “It represents the full circle of my 20 years here in the UK,” Nilufer said. “It is my own celebratory collection.” Nilufer is also introducing another collection, called “Zelena”, meaning green, comprising 18-carat white gold, responsibly sourced emeralds from Gemfields, and chrysoprase, which is responsibly sourced in Queensland, Australia, by Jewels of Queensland. The two new collections will be presented to retailers at Couture through Muse Showroom, a trade show in Las Vegas in early June, and at a special event for invited retailers in London on June 8.The focus of both new GFG Jewellery collections will be Nilufer’s commitment to ethically sourced gemstones. “It is essential to be responsible and to give back to the community where mining takes place,” she said.


SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS

Nilufer believes in marketing her latest designs proactively, using social media, and is constantly updating images on GFG’s Instagram account, which has over 24,000 followers of her latest gemstone jewellery designs.Nilufer’s financial services background, including over a decade working for investment banks in the City of London, has sharpened her entrepreneurial approach and helped her develop her jewellery brand.As a designer, she sometimes finds inspiration from the natural world.

Nilufer’s designs have been influenced by her visit last year to Iceland where she saw the Northern Lights amid clear skies.“I saw a blaze of green lights, which has inspired me to use emeralds!” she said.

https://gfgjewellery.com