Emefe Cole

About the Designer

Independent experimental jewellery artist and designer-maker Emefa Cole was born in Sunyani, West-Central Ghana, in 1979 to a Ga mother and an Ewe and Ga-Dangbe father. Moving to London when she was 12 years old, she graduated from London Metropolitan University’s Cass School of Art in 2011 with a BA (Hons) in Silversmithing and Jewellery. Upon graduation, she launched and built her company: envisioning and bringing to life wearable art which employs subtlety in honouring its inspirations and considered tasteful understatement in its craft.

Designing after Earth’s sweeping geological processes in concert with time and the artefacts of her recollections, Emefa uses 100% recycled metals and stones sourced directly from African gem cutters to forge distinctive body adornment that dares to be quiet in its boldness, sculptural yet flowing, tactile yet intangible, luxurious yet subversive, and gilt yet natural. 

The genesis of the designer can be pinpointed to a childhood fascination with jewellery, precious metals, and stones of the Earth, where girlhood awe flowered into an enrapturement, a bottomless admiration, and a depthless love affair. Growing up in Ghana, Emefa was utterly enthralled by the local folklore surrounding tales of people unearthing gold nuggets exposed by heavy tropical rains; the spectacle of gold winking from the soil’s confines so fixed in her mind that a mythology around unveiling Earth’s treasures holds court and pervades her work to this day. More formative interactions with jewellery include both creation and purchase–stringing Job’s tears (seeds that grow on long grass plants) to construct necklaces, and choosing her own jewellery for the first time: a glorious pair of gold studs set with stones red as pigeon blood.