Biography
Mitouka was born in Montreal. She became passionate about Italy at the age of 17, when she participated in a student exchange and lived with an Italian family in Asti. This passion brought her back to this country during her early twenties to study jewelry. She stayed five years in Florence, where she have learned the techniques that allows her to materialize her creative instincts.
The Québec craft council gave her the professional artist title in 2008. Since then, she dedicate all her time to this profession, which she practice alone in her studio in Montreal. She has participated to the Salon des métiers d’arts (retail craft show) of Montreal and the PleinArt event in Quebec City since 2009.
Mitouka first graduated from the Professional Art School in Florence in 2003, where she got a diploma in jewelry. She then kept studying this topic at Florence’s Le Arti Orafe and she obtained a certificate in jewelry and setting in 2004. Furthermore, she did a six months setting internship in Tavarnuzze (Tuscany). Finally, to develop her creative techniques, she have also studied wax carving during six months with a New-Zealander jeweler in Florence.
When Mitouka came back to Canada in 2006, she shared with another artist a studio-shop located on the Plateau in Montreal. This studio-shop, called Oanh et Mitouka, was referred to in a couple of magazines, namely Elle Québec and Clin D’œil.
In 2008 and 2009, mitouka have displayed her jewelry at Lafrenière & Pai Gallery in Ottawa and at Royer Objets et Trouvailles in Montreal.
Creation process
My jewelry’s creation process starts often from a sketch and a shape I have in mind. Looking at my wax carving block, I try to see the three dimensional form I would like to create. To materialize it, I first carve numerous lines (leading lines and lines that help me). Then, I file and I scratch to extract a shape from the bloc.
I explore the first result and I weigh what I like and dislike. If it is possible, I keep filing and scratching. If not, I start all over again. I do so as often as I need to get the dimension, the volume and the final weight of the jewelry I have imagined and would like to materialize.
I love carving wax. When I use this technique, I feel I can create freely and spontaneously. It allows me to play with shapes, roundness, volumes and deepness, and obtain the lines and forms I cherish: curves and spirals.
Once I have the shape I wanted, I send it to a third party to have a mold made (for production purposes). I then start the whole production process. I inject wax in the mold and I determine the gauge and size of the rings and bracelets.
I then bring the wax shapes to the studio where the casting is done. Once the wax is transformed in silver, I work the metal, i.e. I cut the runner and I file, scratch, weld, stamp, oxidize (if necessary) and, finally, polish the jewel.
Every year I invest three months in creating new models, which I produce during the rest of the year. Because of my training and my numerous stays in Italy, I am always curious about the Italian tendencies in terms of fashion and accessories. It inspires me. Women, their roundness, their strength and their femininity are at the heart of all my creations.