GOLD
Gold is a noble metal that has since ancient times been the foundation of the jeweller's art thanks to a unique combination of properties: it does not tarnish or rust, is extraordinarily malleable (a gram can be drawn into kilometres of wire) and has a warm, incomparable lustre. Pure gold (24 carats) is too soft for jewellery, so it is alloyed with other metals — the hallmark (585, 750) states the gold content, and the admixtures set the colour: copper gives red and rose gold, silver and palladium white. Working with gold — casting, forging, filigree, engraving — is one of the oldest crafts, known in Ukrainian tradition too (recall Scythian gold and Cossack ornaments). Gold has for centuries symbolised wealth, power, the sun and eternity. It is a material of preciousness, status and a timeless beauty that knows no age.
Gold has held an honored place in Ukrainian culture since Scythian art times — the gold pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla, Sarmatian burial jewelry of Crimea, jewelry of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Jewelry hallmarks: 585 (14K), 750 (18K), 999 (24K, pure gold). Color variations — yellow, white, rose, green — obtained through alloys with different metals.
In contemporary Ukrainian jewelry design, gold lives in two streams: classic (Zarina, GUZEMA Fine Jewelry — traditional forms, high carat) and authorial minimalist (Pamela Love Ukraine, FORMA, Anna Yolka — graphic forms, lower carats, silver mix). Ukrainian jewelry tradition also includes unique techniques of enameling, filigree, and granulation, inherited from Byzantine jewelry art.
