How it started…

Not really like that. It actually started when I was 10 years old. That's when I got to make jewelry. From almost anything that came into my hands: stones, shells, bird feathers, forest berries. My grandfather was my patron. We can’t say he was my mentor because he didn’t teach me how to make jewelry. But being a handyman, he was very happy that one of his grandchildren showed a willingness to create. I received my first tools from him. I received the most recognition and encouragement from him. And I probably inherited from him the kind of obsession without which my creative urge would soon have run aground. I remember drilling and carving under the light of a flashlight for nights, pulling my blanket over my head (so that my parents wouldn’t notice it). Until the jewelry became what I imagined it to be.

Did I have the talent for it? Maybe. In retrospect, it’s difficult to say how much talent and endurance is in the result itself. Anyway, my work was soon noticed. Quite exactly a lady running an arts and crafts business, saw one of my handmade necklaces around my neck and asked if I could make similar ones for sale. And I replied, of course I could! So I started making necklaces for her, and she offered them along with the clothes she sold in her shop. This was both a cause for satisfaction and an incentive for improvement. I was very proud to make money with my hobby as a teenager.

Then life picked me up and took me further. And I slowly forgot about making jewelry. It was like it belonged strictly to my childhood and now that I was no longer a child, I should have said goodbye. For a few years, my passion for horses dominated my life. Then, at my age of 19, I took a sharp turn and went to work in a bank.

This period did not last long and when I think back to it nowadays, I think it was quite an ambivalent move. On the one hand, if there’s something far away from me (which really isn’t me) it’s just the world of money and financial institutions. On the other hand, I really needed this detour to get to know this world a little better. Until then, I was the kind of stereotypical artist who rejected material possessions. If these two years do not happen to me, there is a good chance that I also would be in the camp of misunderstood artists today. Art is important and it gives meaning to my life. But practicality is also important. Many talented people struggle with not being able to walk the earth while keeping their heads above the clouds. Honestly, it's not easy. But I believe that art and creation is not self-serving things. Their mission is to shape the world, people’s tastes, values and mindsets. And this is only possible if the artist, the creative person, is somewhat successful. Misunderstood artists are someone who is incapable of influencing their environment - making it impossible for them to fulfill their own mission. It is not enough to be a talented artist. You need to know how to thrive in the world. Even if the world is the way it is. Even if it is much more material than what is good for the artist’s soul.

These two years have therefore proved extremely useful. But I know this more afterwards, I didn’t necessarily feel it that days. And it was most useful when I felt the least. The existence of Balázs Kata Jewelry is due to a bank client of mine.His photo can be seen in the dictionary next to the keyword “arrogance”. The fact that he was unbearable does not describe the real experience by any means. For a twenty-year-old, essentially beginner clerk, it was Armageddon itself. And that’s why I’m infinitely grateful to him today.

It so happened that during one of our meetings he overstretched the string. I wouldn’t get lost in the details right, let it be enough that if I could have gotten over it with a simple crying spasm, the thing wouldn’t be worth a word. But it was much worse. I felt that if I didn’t do something, my nervous system would suffer permanently. The possibility of suicide was ruled out by my moral sense, and suicide by my life instinct. All that remains is for me to target the nearest pharmacy and have dinner with Xanax. Or… Or I'm looking for a creative hobby shop nearby, I'm looting, and then I've painted all the stress out of myself.

It’s against my principles, so it wasn’t Xanax that won. I began painting. I first painted it on all sorts of utility objects. Then all of a sudden I remembered my childhood passion. Jewelry making. What was closely followed by the thought: why can't I combine these two? Apparently I didn't find any counter-arguments.

But if I want to make painted jewelry, I have to choose the ingredients from nature. I knew that with all certainty. That’s how I chose the mother-of-pearl, one of nature’s finest ingredients. It is said to be mentioned in the Vedic hymns of India, even though they are 50,000 years old. Then came the experimentation with the right painting technology. This took a year. One year is not a long time, but if you do the same thing every day, it is not short. The point is, in the end, it all came together. Balázs Kata Jewelry was born. And the journey has begun, and it has been going on for 20 years ever since. But I’m sure it really is just starting out.