Cibele Horsham’s Beautiful Creations

Twenty-seven year old Cibele Horsham is an artist in every sense of the word. The visual arts teacher cum jewellery maker, painter and mosaic maker explores her myriad talents under her company Bella Creations by Cibele. Best known for her work as a jewellery maker, Horsham began making beaded jewellery while studying Visual Arts at the University of the West Indies. Believing that she had the ability to recreate jewellery that was sold in stores, Horsham decided to try the craft on her own. “I started making beaded jewellery using semi precious stones and sold them on the side. People would often see them and like them and eventually I started to get a lot of calls about it”, she said.

Horsham revealed that she had the opportunity to display her handicraft at a local exhibition called “Bits and Pieces” hosted by craftswoman Vanessa Dallas Costa. “It was there that I developed a different clientele because it was a big exhibit and it’s all local work”, she admitted. Soon after meeting Dallas Costa, Horsham decided to work with her where she learnt the art of mosaic making. “She did clay tile mosaic and I decided to use a similar process to make the jewellery”, she said. The jewellery maker admitted that using the new material is quite laborious and could take up to a week to create. “You take the clay, roll it out, cut out the pattern and imprint another pattern over it”. “I then bake it in a kiln and then use a glaze over it and bake it again so it crystallizes and produces the colour that you see”, the craftswoman added. Despite the arduous input, the results are phenomenal. “People are amazed by it. They are attracted to the jewellery because you won’t see it anywhere else. The colours are also very bight and fun”. Since experimenting with ceramics, the nascent artist has attracted much of a buzz about her work. Horsham has displayed her unique pieces at her own exhibitions in the past and has worked with fashion designer Sandra Hordatt for the launch of her “Moodswings” swimsuit collection.

She has also debuted her work at photo-shoots for other designers. Although Horsham keeps busy with her jewellery making, balancing her craft with her day job as a Visual Arts teacher at Providence Girls’ has been quite tough. She admitted that the majority of her craft items would be done during the July/August vacation. She credits teaching, however, as re-inspiring her latent passion for painting. “I initially wanted to do painting but I’ve realized that craft is my strong suit. Through teaching, I’ve rediscovered my passion for painting. Hopefully I can do more of that so I will have enough work to display at the end of the year” she said optimistically. For Horsham, it is certain that her niche market would only continue to expand as she explores the varied dimensions of her versatility. “Hopefully I can reach a point where I can sell to other stores. But more importantly, I would like to have my own business where I would sell my own local handicraft and others as well”.