With the local crisis, Irina created her own brand and started participating in design events and exhibitions, such as Oma Design, Puro Disenio, Expo Trastienda and the last Fashion Buenos Aires in September 2006. And she also began winning awards. The first one was at the Argentine Jewelry Designers Association. Her collection Playometry won the Design Industries Contest given by the Buenos Aires City Government.

“Jewelry designers are getting in touch nowadays and becoming a movement. We showed our pieces in Espacio Eclectico and created a group called Complices (Accomplices). The subject of our exhibition was “Memory”, for me it was a possibility to experiment so I tried new materials and decided to make something new. I worked on the concept of memory as a container so my pieces are circular and feminine”, tells Irina.”For me, this was a chance to take risks”.

She’s also been working for an exhibition which reunites both Brazilian and Argentine jewelers with pieces related to earth connections. The exhibition’s is opening in a few days so Irina is crazy with last minute work. “I really like doing this kind of group work because our work is very lonely”, Irina tells me.

One might think competition in this field is exhausting. One might think jewelers are jealous of each other. But that’s a mistake, at least for Fiszelew, who emailed every designer she knows to tell them about the Brazilian exhibition opportunity. To her, this is a sharing and playful experience, and she is enjoying it. We can tell by the look of her eyes and her pieces. We want to have them all, of course.

But we take one as a gift, and it’s the nicest gift we got lately.