Usually, jewels are understood as an accessory, a piece that completes an outfit. For Núria Ruiz, however, their meaning goes far beyond aesthetics: they can express a person's identity, preserve the memory of those who wore them previously, and even become symbols of protection, balance, or well-being. "A jewel is, ultimately, the ultimate expression of a person's identity," says Ruiz, a trained gemologist who has been dedicated to jewelry for almost fifty years. In her creations, shapes and materials are never arbitrary, and stones play an essential role. "Each stone has a specific energy and can also transmit energy to the wearer," says Ruiz.
For Ruiz, therefore, creating means that every detail has meaning. A philosophy that is not only reflected in her jewels but also manifested at NUR Atelier de les Arts, the space she has inaugurated at Johann Sebastian Bach street, 6, in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi neighborhood. A space where jewelry coexists with other disciplines such as minerals, painting, sculpture, or even perfumery, in a proposal that aims to contribute to giving visibility to Barcelona's creative talent through dialogue with other artistic disciplines. More than a jewelry store, Ruiz has conceived a gallery where different artistic disciplines dialogue and complement each other, but where each piece must have, like her own creations, a soul and a story behind it.
Beyond marking the beginning of a new stage after almost five decades dedicated to jewelry, NUR Atelier de les Arts is born from Ruiz's desire to create a space with a purpose that goes beyond commercial activity. For this reason, the heart of the project is its solidarity dimension: 15% of sales are destined for the Casal dels Infants —and its work against child social exclusion—, with 10% contributed by NUR and 5% by the participating artists from the price of their works. For this reason, one of the requirements to exhibit at NUR Atelier de les Arts is that artists share this commitment to solidarity. "It didn't fulfill me to create a simple commercial space; I wanted to create a project with a purpose," explains Ruiz.
The idea is for NUR Atelier de les Arts to be a living gallery-jewelry store, in constant transformation, where the works and proposals will change every few months depending on the artists exhibiting there. But Ruiz wants the space to also be a cultural meeting point, open to conferences, activities, and gatherings with creators. A new stage for the jeweler, who, although she could have retired years ago, has been postponing the moment and, with this new project in hand, it seems she will have to wait a little longer.
A drawing, a jewel
“My jewels have been parallel to the different stages I have experienced throughout my life,” explains Ruiz, who at 19 had already graduated in Gemology from the University of Barcelona and was beginning to train in Fine Arts. Shortly after, she would open Cúbic, her first store, specializing in minerals. Throughout these almost fifty years of creating jewelry, nature, the cosmos, friendship, and motherhood have inspired her collections, where she transforms personal experiences into symbolic forms. To these interests, lately, the world of energies has also been added, which she explores through meditation and yoga.
But whatever the inspiration or the starting point, the jewels always begin with paper and pencil. Ruiz fills sheets with sketches until she finds the form that best conveys what she wants to express. “When a drawing starts to convince me, I make a cross; if I like it even more, I make two, and when I am sure that is the one I want to develop, I put three crosses. It is this drawing, the one with the three crosses, that will end up becoming a jewel,” explains Ruiz. And it is this same process that she is following with the piece she is currently designing, dedicated to solidarity and featuring a lapis lazuli in the center.
Despite her meticulous creative process, Ruiz acknowledges that chance has also played an important role in her career. On more than one occasion, she has found premises at the moment they were being transferred, opportunities that have marked her professional path. But, if there is one thing she does plan in detail, it is each jewel: Ruiz defends the value of craftsmanship and the time it takes to work on each piece, because she believes that it is this dedication that gives it soul, a dimension that, in her opinion, artificial intelligence can hardly reproduce without the human experience behind each creation.
A career forged among minerals
NUR Atelier de les Arts is not, however, just another space in her career, but a new stage in Núria Ruiz's trajectory, who after almost five decades dedicated to jewelry has wanted to share space with other artistic expressions. The idea is to share space with other artists, discover new proposals and give visibility to the creative talent of the Catalan capital. For this reason, the gallery will be renewed with works by different creators and works every few months. Currently, Ruiz's jewels coexist with the mobile sculptures of Luis Carulla, which explore the organic and undulating forms of seaweed through moving figures, and with Genyum perfumes, presented by Anna Torrents.
This openness to other disciplines is not new in Ruiz's career, who has always maintained a close link with the arts beyond jewelry. Born in Barcelona, she grew up in Geneva, where her father was dedicated to the pearl and diamond trade. At nineteen, she returned to Barcelona to study gemology and completed her artistic training at the Massana and Llotja schools, where she studied painting, drawing and sculpture. In fact, she initially wanted to be a painter, but her fascination with minerals ended up marking her professional path.
In 1977, Cúbic opened on Passeig de Gràcia, a store specializing in minerals and ethnic jewelry, with an interior design by Òscar Tusquets presided over by a large pyramid that transported one to Egypt. At that time, Ruiz traveled to Morocco, Paris, and Brazil to find pieces, until she began to develop her own creations with the stones she was discovering. Later, she decided to move the activity to Pau Casals street, in the Turó Park area, where she consolidated her language as a jeweler, with pieces of minimalist and symbolic lines.
After almost five decades dedicated to jewelry, at 65 she considered retiring to dedicate more time to writing with the aim of preparing a book, which she hopes to publish in a few months, that collects anecdotes and experiences from her professional career linked to the world of retirement. But retirement has been postponed: first, she remained linked to the sector by exhibiting her creations in the space of jeweler Rafael Sunyer, on Rector Ubach street, where she spent nearly a decade.
But the premises that today have become NUR had been attracting her attention for some time. When she learned that the previous establishment was being transferred, Ruiz saw the opportunity to make a reality of an idea that went beyond her own jewels: to open the doors to other artists and give the project a solidarity dimension. Far from putting an end to a career of almost fifty years, Ruiz has thus found a new way to continue creating with soul, share her universe with other creators, and link art with social commitment.