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Kristal\u00a0Vi\u00f1as<\/span><\/span><\/strong>ngg_shortcode_1_placeholder<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
With a background in Industrial and Product Design and over two decades of experience in creative industries across Venezuela, Spain, and Canada,\u00a0Kristal<\/span>\u00a0brings a distinctive blend of precision, artistry, and international influence to her jewelry practice.<\/p>\nBorn in Venezuela,\u00a0Kristal<\/span>\u00a0began exploring arts and crafts at the age of eight in her aunt\u2019s creative academy \u2014 the place where she first learned jewelry making and eventually began teaching. After initially studying Electronics Engineering, she shifted paths to pursue her passion and earned a degree in Industrial Design in Caracas, working for years as a senior furniture designer for one of the country\u2019s most prestigious firms.<\/p>\nIn 2003, she moved to Valencia, Spain, where she completed a Master\u2019s in New Product Design, Management & Development, continuing her work as a designer for several notable studios. Alongside her design career,\u00a0Kristal<\/span>\u00a0deepened her training in metalsmithing, studying with respected jewelers in both Europe and South America.<\/p>\nAfter relocating to Vancouver in 2010, she took a few advanced professional jewelry courses but quickly transitioned into becoming a full-time self-employed jeweler and instructor. At Soigne Studio,\u00a0Kristal<\/span>\u00a0now offers thoughtfully designed classes that are welcoming, flexible, and inspiring \u2014 ideal for beginners, travelers, and returning students alike.<\/p>\nHer teaching style reflects both her deep technical knowledge and her designer\u2019s sensibility, always aiming to make the process creative, accessible, and fun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Andrea Roberts ngg_shortcode_2_placeholder<\/strong><\/p>\nAndrea, a certified goldsmith, studied at the prestigious College for Goldsmiths in Pforzheim, Germany. After her graduation in 1989 and working in the trade she moved to Vancouver 1996 where she established her own studio.<\/p>\n
Since 1999 she is teaching intermediate and advanced Jewelry Techniques to aspiring students at VSB Continuing Education and private study programs for all levels in her studio. The same year she became a Circle Craft Coop member selling her art work at the Granville Island store.<\/p>\n
Her love for unusual and rare Brazilian gems are often incorporated in her designs. Andrea addresses her work to people who claim jewelry as a formal idiom of their own and is specialized in one-of-a-kind designs.<\/p>\n
To Andrea, art is a reflection of a person\u2019s soul. Her own inspirations are drawn from nature, materials, forms and people. She uses techniques such as roller-printed textures to transform and shape her sculpture like jewelry to give a piece character and depth.<\/p>\n
In 2002 her piece \u201cflower of the universe\u201d was given to the Queen of Norway by former Governor General Mrs. Adrienne Clarkson as a present of state representing Canadian Arts and Craft.<\/p>\n
I am excited to be invited to Octopus Studios in collaboration with Beata Kacy\/Director sharing some 25 years of my professional experience in the jewelry making and designing field and 15 years of mentoring aspiring students exploring their creative potential with fun and never ending curiosity.<\/p>\n
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Alicia Meek<\/strong>\u00a0ngg_shortcode_3_placeholder<\/div>\nI began taking jewelry classes in 2008 and quickly became entranced and obsessed with the wide variety of methods that allowed me to create beautiful works of art I never could have imagined! I started with the basics metal smithing course at Soigne, and quickly worked my way through the majority of their classes, while making good friends with the owner, Beata Kacy. My dream of being an instructor at Soigne has come true!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Beata Czerwisnka<\/strong>\u00a0ngg_shortcode_4_placeholder<\/div>\nBeata Czerwinska graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz at the Faculty of Design, specializing in Fashion Design. She was also a student of Art&Design at Galway-Mayo Technical Institute in Ireland. This was a general undergraduate degree in art, design and new media incorporating the opportunity to specialise in the areas of ceramics, painting, printmaking, sculpture or textiles. The programme combined traditional and contemporary approaches to visual research and art and design practices, including research methodologies, drawing, photography, digital media, art history, critical theory and professional practice taught by specialist practitioners and academics. She obtained Bachelor Degree of Business Management and Marketing in Ireland at Galway Business School. As a professional she has been associated with the fashion industry. She gained experience as an art director assistant and designer assistant in different fashion apparels. She also worked as a fashion\/graphic designer and managed interdisciplinary projects: assisting fashion shows for Maciej Zie?, creating costumes to independent arthouse movies and theatre play.<\/div>\n
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Natasha Dash\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong>ngg_shortcode_5_placeholder<\/span><\/span>Natasha Dash is a Certified Zentangle Teacher. She began her Zentangle journey in 2016 and has enjoyed many benefits of \u201ctangling\u201d. Natasha uses tangling as a healthy and creative way to deal with stress and access a state of relaxed focus. She is always amazed by the beautiful art she is able to create using the method of Zentangle which has really built her confidence as an artist.\u00a0<\/span>Natasha\u2019s favourite part of teaching the method of Zentangle is that each student is given the same instructions, but every tile produced looks so different and unique, just like each person.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span>Natasha is a passionate lifelong learner and when she is not teaching tangling or creating her own Zentangle art, she is teaching Kindergarten in the North Vancouver School District. Natasha also loves attending live music events, travelling with her husband, participating in art and craft classes, and hosting game nights with friends and family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span>It has been said that Zentangle brings fantastic people together, and Natasha has so much gratitude and appreciation for all the amazing people she has met while on her Zentangle journey. She looks forward to sharing her knowledge and passion of the method of Zentangle with you!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Aiko<\/span> Uda\u00a0ngg_shortcode_6_placeholder<\/strong>There are few art forms that Aiko<\/span> isn\u2019t familiar with. Whether it\u2019s painting, fluid art, jewelry making, sewing, crocheting, knitting, origami, paper crafts, Japanese and western calligraphy, embroidery, fabric dying, stencils or pottery, Aiko<\/span> has tried them all. She is a Brilliance Colour Dew certified colour therapist, through which she uses art as a form of therapy and incorporates the rich artistic history and philosophy she\u2019s learned from her native Japan.<\/p>\nBut Aiko<\/span>\u2019s creativity spans beyond art. She loves to cook, create natural skin and hair care products and tend to her plants in her garden. She is also a Japanese Naogmi Yoga instructor and a certified Japanese Reiki practitioner. For her, everything she does is a way of connecting with the natural world and incorporating everything it offers us as a means of cherishing the gift of life.<\/p>\nMina Saneei<\/strong>\u00a0ngg_shortcode_7_placeholder<\/strong>Mina is a goldsmith based in Vancouver, she has a Bachelor of Architecture from Iran and Jewellery Arts Advanced Diploma from George Brown College in Toronto.
\nShe started her silversmithing path in her home country, Iran, couple of years before moving to Canada in pursuit of more knowledge and experience. She has been awarded an excellence award for her thesis collection called “Dynamic Architecture”. Currently she produces her own designs and does custom work from her studio whilehaving a full-time job as a bench jeweler for a local brand. Mina is a member of Vancouver Metal Arts Association where she serves as board member and is an active part of exhibition committee. In her search for the right medium, Mina has gained extensive experience in working with different materials and learning techniques such as Carpentry, blacksmithing, Resin, Metal Clay and Traditional Leather Sewing. In the Leather medium she has established her own brand. In addition to teaching, for more than 3 years, she has had international awards and exhibitions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Soigne is pleased to grow through many guest teachers from around the world. Their passion, commitment and broad experience makes soigne a unique place to learn. Beata Kacy Originally from Poland, Beata Kacy is the creator and founder of Soigne. Beata is a PMC level1 Certified Instructor and She is the only Canadian holding Precious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_s2mail":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1671","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soigne.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soigne.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soigne.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soigne.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soigne.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1671"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/soigne.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12252,"href":"https:\/\/soigne.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1671\/revisions\/12252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soigne.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}