The pursuit of elegance
Nadine Fink’s jewellery brand, Nana Fink, joyfully combines art deco influences with modern sensibilities, demonstrating a mastery of sophistication that is never at risk of being boring.
Nadine Fink
Founder, Nana Fink
“I want to take the artistry that we’re losing into our times and make it contemporary and wearable for people now,” says Nadine Fink. Her jewellery brand, Nana Fink – the name inspired by a childhood nickname – joyfully combines art deco influences with modern sensibilities, demonstrating a mastery of sophistication that is never at risk of being boring.
“I loved to draw as a teenager but Basel wasn’t the design city that it is today,” says Fink. As a result, she studied clinical psychology and completed a PhD.
But she doesn’t view her scientific studies and her jewellery design practice as all that different: “I used to do a lot of screening and reading the research ‘body’ for my own articles. I do the same now when I study hundreds of old masters and creations to design a new piece.”
In fact, it was during Fink’s studies that she began renovating furniture on the side and became fascinated by antique jewellery. “While I was at Harvard Medical School, I won a research prize and I used that money to start my first collection,” she says. “They say that you must have a plan B but I switched to my plan A.”
As well as Nana Fink, the designer also runs Jewels Basel, a jewellery fair held in a stunning Baroque villa in the city centre.
