STORIES FROM THE ATELIER: SETENAY ORMAN
- eliane de luca peres
- Jun 14
- 3 min read
setenay and i first came into contact about four years ago when i shared one of her gorgeous rings. we stayed in touch on instagram over the years, and last august i shared yet another one of her pieces: a dreamy, bubbly, beautiful ring that i absolutely loved (seen above!).
little did i know that only a few months later we’d actually meet at nouvelle box! she immediately recognized me, and my eyes went straight to the very ring i had admired so much. she was incredibly sweet. we spoke about her work, she showed me her pieces, and of course i tried everything on. it felt like heaven!
only recently did i discover that she too has roots in sweden and previously worked in PR and communications, just like me. the world really is an oyster, and i feel incredibly privileged to meet people like setenay through this page.
it’s my pleasure to share her story today, along with her unique and beautiful rings.
I come from a background in PR and communications, so storytelling was a central part of my everyday work. But I’ve never considered myself particularly good at writing openly about my own thoughts and feelings. When I discovered jewelry-making, it became a more personal outlet — a way to process emotion and observation through form rather than words.
Over time, that has naturally become the foundation of my creative process and the way I approach my collections. Since founding ORMAN in 2018, I’ve approached jewelry less as ornament and more as a way of preserving emotion in physical form. I’m drawn to pieces that hold presence quietly — sculptural yet restrained, expressive without needing to announce themselves loudly. Rather than following trends or fixed visual codes, each collection develops from its own emotional and conceptual starting point, resulting in forms that are distinct in silhouette yet connected by the same underlying sensibility.
Jewelry is inherently three-dimensional, but with my pieces, that quality often becomes more pronounced. They often invite people to touch and turn them to fully understand the form. I like to play with details and angles — whether through stone setting, proportion, or structure — to create silhouettes that feel distinctive from every perspective. I was raised between Stockholm and Istanbul, and I think both cities continue to shape the way I see design. Stockholm taught me clarity, restraint, and the beauty of simplicity. Istanbul introduced me to texture, contrast, and movement.
ORMAN exists somewhere between those two worlds — balancing clean architectural lines with organic forms and emotional depth. I’m generally less drawn to jewelry as mass production or trend-driven consumption. While my designs are often bold and substantial, they’re intentionally not loud or overly literal in the stories they tell. I prefer subtle references to inspiration, leaving space for the wearer to attach their own memories and meaning to a piece.
The idea of an object becoming part of someone’s personal history is far more appealing to me — pieces worn daily, carrying traces of life as they evolve alongside the person wearing them. What I truly appreciate about jewelry is its permanence. Unlike many other forms of design, it moves through generations while absorbing traces of human experience. A ring or necklace can quietly witness entire chapters of a life.
I think that’s why I continue to return to this medium — it allows emotion, memory, and identity to take physical form in a way that feels both intimate and enduring.
