Today we’d like to introduce you to Sakina Manji.
Sakina, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I have been a creative since I was a child- always volunteering to paint the birthday cards instead of buying them. In my adult years, I was quite the mixed media artist- I was a sculptor who loved photographing and painting, so I fused them together frequently. Making jewelry used to be just a side hobby, but once I realized the potential my skills had in that field, I dabbled more with wearable art. As a sculptor, I loved perfecting details, and as a photographer working in dark rooms, I loved tweaking with the developer chemicals for different effects. As a jeweler, I get to do both of those things and more. Eight years later, making jewelry has consumed every corner of my mind, and I couldn’t possibly think of a better way to express my creativity and skill set while staying constantly challenged.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I am a jeweler, with a creative background in sculpture and painting. I love making jewelry that really catches people’s attention or makes them question how it was done. I am an experimenter- constantly pushing boundaries of what is safe or how things should be made. Growing up, heavily influenced by my Indian culture, the idea of adornment went past just the visual aspect of it. Jewelry is armor, it is expressive, it is symbolic. I studied the origins of jewelry as a pass time in college and slowly became obsessed with the idea of making things people could pass along or hold sacred for themselves.
I’m also so heavily influenced by nature, however cliché that sounds. I will take a trip to the mountains, and suddenly I’m flooded with inspiration and can’t wait to be at my workbench to make it happen. Ever since I was a little girl, I found solace in being lost in nature. These feelings- the need for expression and resonating in nature – are so primal to me. They nourish my spirit in a way that is hard to explain. Then, I share my work with others, and I see their reactions seeing how much joy, nostalgia, etc. my work has brought to people really soothes me. We are these strange creatures who react to relation in emotion, just through different mediums. That’s how I see it at least. My work is simply a spectrum of my wild imagination- wrapped up in a piece you can wear.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
I define success as an artist as a feeling of being nourished by the act of creating. I don’t mean financially, that is just a bonus. I am talking about that feeling of deep satisfaction when looking at your work. Too often I get so heavily engulfed in my work that I don’t even realize how much I have accomplished. Every now and then, I will sit back and lay it all out- my hands will be hurting so badly they will tremble, but I will look down at them and just say ‘thank you”. That feeling of having the vessel to create and express the whirlwind of thoughts in my mind is success.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I am really active on social media, especially Instagram. My Instagram handle is: @nightbreed_creations. I’m also on Facebook as Night breed Creations. My website. You can find me at markets all over Florida (and sometimes out of state), but I am mostly at the markets in Tampa and St. Pete.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nightbreedcreations.com
- Email: contact@nightbreedcreations.com
- Instagram: @nightbreed_creations
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nightbreedcreations/
Image Credit:
The portrait of me was done by Wild Artistry Photography. All other photos were taken by me personally.
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