Featured Shop: FORMA

My name is Galit Barak, and I’m a jewelry designer and master’s student at Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art. I create contemporary jewelry with geometric and minimalist lines for my label, FORMA. I live in Karkur, Israel with my partner Ronen.

“Forma” is the Latin word for form, which is the main concept of my work. I aim to create the right form for an idea, feeling, or material. I like to keep my designs clean, smart and simple, and I believe that good design is very straightforward. I’m inspired by my surroundings: natural rocks and crystals, urban landscapes, architecture and mechanisms. I also work on conceptual art jewelry, where I strive to be innovative, stretch boundaries and create unfamiliar layouts.

I get my ideas from staring through the open air, sometimes while daydreaming in the sunny garden and sometimes at random, when I have no place to write them down. I love how quick the process can be, from having an idea to cultivating the first prototype. I don’t usually sketch much – instead, I prefer working directly with metal wires and sheets and developing my pieces through the making. The best designs I have are the ones that came from “mistakes” and playing with different elements of the process.

Jewelry was not my first choice of discipline; for a while I sold my work to family and friends, but kept aiming for a higher education in fine art. It wasn’t until I visited the jewelry design department at Shenkar that I realized jewelry could be a platform and method for me to explore my ideas as wearable 3D objects. Etsy was the first place I presented my work to people, and soon after, I began selling.

My Etsy shop has been my main source of income during my studies, and I think Etsy is a wonderful platform to grow as an independent designer. My business has grown significantly over the years, with a lot of changes and transitions – some of which people thought were too dramatic. I always try to do what feels right for me. In the future, I hope to keep being true to myself, developing my work and selling my jewelry around the world. Opening a workspace and store of my own – and collaborating with other designers – is something that I look forward to.

Follow FORMA on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

All photographs by Aya Wind.