Zeki Karaca Jewelry: Luxury Pens
Some of the most original work we saw at the GJX show included bejeweled pens made by Turkish designer Zeki Karaca (figure 1). These intricate pens feature exquisite details and fine craftsmanship in metalworking, enameling, engraving, inlay, and stone setting. In addition to pens, Karaca also creates other desk items such as letter openers and magnifying glasses (figure 2).
Born in Istanbul, Karaca has 41 years of jewelry-making experience, originally designing jewelry to sell in the Grand Bazaar. To apply his experience and creativity to different designs and styles, he began making luxury pens and products three years ago. He first ventured into these new products by crafting silver gemstone handles for Damascus steel knives. After finding success there, he expanded to meet the demand for luxury pens, letter openers, and magnifying glasses.
Each pen takes about six months to design and craft. All production steps are done by hand, making each item one of a kind. After designing an item, Karaca creates a silver body using fold forming, with the folds created using emery sheets. Engraving is executed by a master engraver using different nibbed steel pens, and dimming is used to emphasize the engraving. Karaka incorporates diamond, sapphire, emerald, and ruby into the designs and uses 24K gold for design highlights. Miniature paintings, such as the peacock on the pen cap in figure 1 (left), are created by hand with a small brush and then coated with a transparent enamel for protection. For micro-mosaics, gemstones such as emerald are crushed and added to the pen body, as seen in both pens in figure 1. The pen parts are welded together with a laser, and then the 24K gold nibs are added.
With high demand for his products from collectors, Karaca continues to explore additional high-end objects as well as custom designs for some clients.
