For Bulgarian-born, Greece-raised silversmith and jeweller Militsa Milenkova, the marks, imperfections and unpredictability of making are not things to be polished away. Having recently completed a two-year Artist Residency at The Glasgow School of Art, where she previously studied Silversmithing and Jewellery, her practice has increasingly focused on making the process of creating an object visible, rather than concealing it behind a perfectly finished surface. 

Her latest collection, Renouncing Constraint, does this quite literally. Militsa creates clean, hollow metal forms before placing them under a hydraulic press, surrendering some of the control traditionally associated with skilled craftsmanship and allowing pressure to determine their final shape. The resulting 12-piece collection - three sterling silver pins, three pairs of earrings and six steel tealight holders - preserves creases, ruptures and traces of the processes behind each object.

The crushed, sculptural steel forms also reflect Militsa’s longstanding fascination with the overlooked structures of urban landscapes: pipes, broken poles, street fixtures and other utilitarian objects that perform a function but rarely warrant a second glance. It enriches the work with a subtle commentary on worth and preciousness, elevating forms associated with the ordinary, functional and discarded through skilful making while allowing them to remain imperfect and unpredictable.

Selected for Shine 2026, the Goldsmiths’ Centre’s training programme and new talent showcase for emerging businesses, Militsa is now preparing for another shift in her practice. She will soon move to Sweden to begin an MFA in Metal Art, where she hopes to experiment with larger-scale work, new machinery and an even freer approach to making. In the following article, Militsa shares, in her own words, an insight into her practice, the thinking behind her new collection and her ongoing exploration of unpredictability in the making process.

From product design to making

‘I used to study interior and product design in Greece, but by the end of my degree I felt it wasn’t the right path for me. The course was very computer-based, designing on CAD, and I couldn’t see myself sitting behind a desk all my life and never really seeing my projects come to life.

For my work experience, I found a jeweller whose work I really liked and asked if I could do a six-month internship with her. She showed me everything from scratch and I really liked it. Afterwards, I moved to Glasgow to study at the City of Glasgow College, then went on to the Glasgow School of Art for my BA. My practice evolved from jewellery into silversmithing, and now I’m also moving more into metalsmithing and other materials.’

Moving beyond perfection

‘I’ve just finished a two-year Artist in Residency at Glasgow School of Art. It was a really good way to transition into starting my career: I had my own bench and access to the facilities, while helping with workshops, exhibitions and student projects. During those two years, I developed the collection I’ll be debuting at Shine.

I realised that I had always tried to make my work as neat and perfectly finished as possible, because that’s how you learn as a craftsperson. But when you have a perfectly polished, shiny object, you don’t really see all the labour that went into it. In a way, you work backwards by erasing everything you’ve already done. For me, making is my favourite part – not seeing the finished object. So I wanted to find a way to showcase that process and step away from perfection.’

Renouncing Constraint

‘The collection is called Renouncing Constraint, which comes from my decision to go against the rules I’ve been following for all these years. I make clean, hollow forms and then put them under pressure using a hydraulic press. I can control the process, but I don’t necessarily know what I’ll get at the end. That’s exciting.

My work is still minimalistic, clean and quite honest in what it is, and you can see more of the marks of making. The pieces crinkle and crease under pressure rather than looking perfectly crisp.’

Developing the process

‘I start with a flat sheet of metal, sand it, roll it into a cylindrical shape and laser weld the seam. I then apply pressure to the sides using the hydraulic press, experimenting with different amounts of pressure to get different results. I also learned to use a lathe so I could make my own tools for the press. I document the pressure, positioning and results so I can understand what happened and, if I want to, try to recreate it.

One of my favourite pieces came about when the seam unexpectedly burst completely under pressure. The tool opened it up so it almost looked double-layered. I hadn’t had that happen before, and I immediately thought, “Okay, I need to try to recreate that.”’

Inspiration in the overlooked

‘Visually, I’m inspired by broken and overlooked things. Even when I go on holiday, I come back with a camera full of details from the streets – pipes, broken poles and things that are unseen or abandoned. I see a parallel between those objects and the making process. There are all these things that keep cities running that nobody really notices, just as the labour behind a perfectly finished object can disappear in the final result. Sometimes I leave the steel without varnish so it starts rusting naturally. I like having a piece that is, in a way, alive and continues changing.’

Why Shine?

‘I applied to Shine because I’d seen friends and colleagues go through the programme and get a lot out of it. I also thought it was the right moment for me, transitioning out of my residency and into a new chapter. I developed this work during my two years at Glasgow School of Art, so Shine is a chance to show it outside Glasgow, reach a broader audience and hear people’s responses. That will help me think about where I should take my practice next. I’m also looking forward to meeting the other makers, talking to audiences and building my confidence in talking about my work.’

A new chapter in Sweden

‘I’ll soon be moving to Sweden for a master’s degree at the University of Gothenburg, based at a campus around two hours north of Gothenburg. It’s essentially a blacksmithing course, although I won’t be following the traditional blacksmithing route. I want to take what I already do and combine it with new processes, machinery and ways of working.

I think it will help me become more experimental and take the work in a freer direction. I just want to play – it’s nice to play and always learn new things. Eventually, I’d like to make much larger work, perhaps even furniture. It’s interesting because that takes me back towards product design, which is where I started. I went from designing larger things to making tiny objects, and now I’m slowly moving towards larger things again.

It feels like I’ve gone in a circle – but this time I don’t just want to design them. I want to make them too.’