WHEN designers Zwetelina Alexieva and Nikolay Sardamov met, they were already established, both in Bulgaria, and abroad.

Zwetelina says of starting her career as a jeweller: "I always wanted to do something with my hands. In 1990 I took an apprenticeship in Dusseldorf in a jewellery shop for three years, after which I came back to Sofia with the idea to start for myself. And that's exactly what I did, although I have always had a daytime job, because it's hard to survive solely on jewellery. The pieces I make are mostly to be found in Germany, Austria, England, Holland and of course Bulgaria. Most people say that my work reminds them of corals, algae and micro-organisms. But I don't have these things in mind when I make my jewellery. Maybe I just like these shapes and structures, but I would say that I am experimenting with soft and hard wax more than anything. I make wax models, which are cast afterwards. This way of working is different from working directly on the metals, because it gives you much more possibilities to form and shape the metals."

Nikolay has had his atelier together with a former fellow student for about 10 years. They started directly after they finished at an arts-and-crafts orientated high school in Sofia.

"At first I took my work to different galleries in Sofia. All in all it took five years before I had my first exhibition in Liverpool. Then came Scotland, Austria, Italy and Germany. After this I won a prize to visit a summer academy for jewellery design in Salzburg. And this really changed my work a lot because the teachers were great. My work used to be very experimental and maybe not so wearable. For instance I made jewellery from sugar, for which I got an award for New Materials and Technology. But now, I still experiment a lot, but mainly with shapes and more wearable materials. For some time now I have been working with rubber from bicycle tyres. Or I paint aluminium, which gives a very interesting effect." But who would have thought that two Bulgarian jewellery designers would learn of each other through foreign art galleries and museums? But this is exactly what happened.

"I knew of Zwetelina years before I met her in person, because I saw her work in Austria and England. Many times I took her number down, but I never had the courage to contact her," giggles Nikolay. "I thought she'd never spare the time to speak to me and that she would think: Why on earth do you think you can just phone me up like that? So every time I thought, oh well some other time maybe." This went on for years, up to the time where someone organised an international exhibition in Sofia in which Nikolay and Zwetelina both were to take part. For some practical reasons regarding this exhibition Nikolay simply couldn't postpone his call any longer and finally picked up the phone. Zwetelina: "I also heard of Nikolay for about two years before we met. I saw some of his work in Vienna. And I always thought it would be nice and interesting to meet him, but unfortunately I never got hold of his number. I had been working by myself for years and I always thought it would be nice to have a sparring partner, a colleague to exchange ideas with. So when Nikolay called, I was very glad." The designers agreed to meet and basically fell over laughing when Zwetelina opened the door of her office to welcome Nikolay in. "I expected some 40-year-old bearded art type and he's doesn't look a bit like that!" explains Zwetelina laughingly. And of course Zwetelina wasn't at all the haughty dame that Nikolay anticipated. This meeting, almost a year ago was the beginning of the partner- and friendship the designers now enjoy. Zwetelina and Nikolay exchange ideas and experiences on one hand, while on the other they are exhibiting their work together in galleries and fairs in different countries.

"We having been mainly focussing on galleries in the past. It's a good way to make your name and to show your work. For them we make more experimental and contemporary jewellery, which is nice, but the process is very slow. The prices in galleries are higher, but you can wait a very long time before you actually sell something", says Nikolay.

Being a Bulgarian jewellery designer does not seem to have stopped this duo being successful abroad. Zwetelina has studied both English and German. "So there is no language barrier in my case, and I think this has helped a lot," she says. Nikolay adds: "Of course people are suspicious sometimes, or even ask me whether Bulgaria is in Europe. But after they hear at which galleries in Vienna and London I have exhibited my work, they are quite open. The next step in our career will be focussing on more commercial jewellery. We went to a fair in Frankfurt and there we realised that it's interesting for us to move a little more towards selling our work to shops and at fairs. Designing jewellery for a broader audience means that it needs to be cheaper and more wearable. So that's the plan for the near future."