Victory is for those who can say "Victory is mine". Success is for those who can begin saying "I will succeed" and say "I have succeeded" in the end
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

GÜRHAN ORHAN aka GURHAN, 24 karat gold jewelery designer

Pioneering 24-karat gold designer jewelry, Turkish born Gurhan Orhan has introduced to the worlds of fine jewelry and fashion, the palette of warm, yellow, pure gold. Gurhan creates jewelry that becomes an intimate part of a woman’s diverse life, a link between designer and owner. Transcending time and trends, Gurhan makes the jewelry with the transformative power to make a woman feel more beautiful.

An award-winning master goldsmith, his passion for pure gold is born out in his creative approach to the medium, personally designing every piece. In the painstaking process that brings the designer’s vision to life, it acquires a quality of warmth, an intricacy of detail and an individual personality that speaks to the woman who desires, purchases and wears it. Known in the industry by his first name, Gurhan started making jewelery about 15 years ago after he became entranced with the look and feel of a piece of pure gold.

Now his jewelery priced from $500 to $50,000 is sold in the United States, where he lives since 1997, and is making inroads in Europe.

Gurhan, who studied Mathematics and Business Administration at the Middle East Technical University(METU), fell in love with pure gold in 1994 when he was handed a plate of pure gold. “It was love at first sight. I started playing with the piece. But people who knew jewelery told me it was not possible to make buy cialis buy viagra buy cialis buy viagra order viagra order cialis professional buy cialis order viagra order cialis jewelery with pure gold because it is too soft” said Gurhan. He studied tools goldsmiths used thousands of years ago which were made of wood, bones and even seeds and has adopted and modified them to make his own jewelery. Gurhan said ancient jewelery remained his main source of inspiration but he also followed modern trends to create four jewelery lines which he calls “things coming from the past”, “my own style”, “fashion” and a recently launched silver line.

About 95 percent of his sales come from the U.S. market but he has not felt a pinch of the consumer pessimism triggered by a credit market crunch and fears of the U.S economic slowdown.
Nor did he suffer from high gold prices which rose more than 30 percent last year and stormed to new record highs in 2008, gaining about 18 percent since the start of this year. His wife Fiona Tilly, who also is the president of his company, said sales rose over 20 percent in 2007.

Due to their accumulated genius - in both business and design - Gurhan and Tilly have grown from a two-person entrepreneurship in NYC to a multinational corporation with nearly 100 people going full steam ahead.

Among his customers are Meryl Streep, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Halle Berry, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.

Website: www.gurhan.com

GÖNÜL PAKSOY, fashion designer

Gönül Paksoy was born in Adana – Ceyhan as the first child of her family with 6 kids. She went to grammar school in Ceyhan and attended the Adana Girls’ School for her high school education.

After graduating as a Chemical Engineer from the Chemistry Department of Yildiz University, she obtained an M.S. degree from the Basic Sciences Department of Çukurova University on the subject “The Separation of Tar into its Components and its Definition.”

She obtained her Ph.D. from the Department of Sciences of the same University with a thesis on “The use of plants as a source of natural dyes”. After obtaining her Ph.D. she conducted several studies on natural dyes. She left the University in autumn 1989 and started to work on her own. She continues to study natural dyes besides her work as a fashion designer.

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SULTAN ACAR, aka ZULTANA KONSTANZA, jewelry designer

Sultana

“The richness of an artist’s cultural heritage influences his/her design. Design by Zultana Konstanza focuses on traditional motifs and craftsmanship to bring out the universal and uniqueness of each culture. On this quest to explore cultural background and philosophies, I have also focused on other cultures - be it China or Greece – with in situ research that has allowed me to become one with the essential principles of such cultures”: Zultana Konstanza.After having completed a degree on management from Uludag( University, in Bursa, Turkey, Zultana Konstanza started her career as an independent designer.

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