EMMA KRAFFT x flemington vintage

In Karaköy, Istanbul, the EMMA KRAFFT atelier occupies a historic stone building overlooking a church courtyard.

The brand takes its name from Emma Krafft, a German-born woman who travelled to the Ottoman Empire at the close of the 19th century. She loved fine jewellery deeply, and many of her pieces remain in the family to this day. Founder Esin Nalbantoğlu is her great-granddaughter. On her father's side, she descends from a family of Circassian metalworkers — a surname that still carries the meaning "son of the farrier."

Before turning to jewellery, Esin built an international career as an award-winning graphic designer and art director. She then spent six years in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, apprenticing in metalwork and stone setting. Since 2018, she has worked from her own atelier in Karaköy, where every piece begins as a hand-carved wax form and passes through polishing, engraving, and stone setting — each step completed by her own hands.

At the heart of the brand is a quiet resolve: to carry the tradition and culture of metalwork into the present, at a time when machine production has become the norm. The intricacy of the carved motifs, the depth of detail that only handwork can leave behind — when we encountered this work, we recognised something familiar. It is the same quality we have always sought in vintage: beauty made by hand, made to outlast its moment.

This capsule collection of five pieces was created for flemington vintage — rings, a bangle, and two kanzashi hairpins that speak gently to Japan's own tradition of hair ornament. Four of the five are available exclusively through flemington vintage.