Emefa Cole was born to a Ga mother and an Ewe and Ga-Dangbe father in Sunyani, West-Central Ghana in 1979, and immigrated to London with her family aged 12. Having studied jewellery making in London, she has now established a successful and progressive brand in the UK, dedicated to experimental yet wearable art. In 2022 she was appointed the V&A's first curator of diaspora jewellery.
Jewellery artist and designer-maker, Emefa Cole was born to a Ga mother and an Ewe and Ga-Dangbe father in Sunyani, in the Brong Ahafo region of West-Central Ghana in 1979, a region once a hub of the African gold trade. Cole has ancestral ties to traditional leaders on both the maternal and paternal sides of her family. As a child, she frequently moved between homes, living in the city of Ho and in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. At the age of 12, she immigrated to London with her family. A decade later, aged 22, when she was working for the transport department of the local council, Cole took a ten-week introductory course to jewellery making. This was followed by ND and HND courses at London Guildhall University. In 2011, she completed her BA (Hons) in Silversmithing and Jewellery at the Cass School of Art at London Metropolitan University. Post-graduation, Cole embarked on creating her own company, dedicated to the conceptualisation and production of wearable art. She describes her London-based brand, Emefa Cole, as embodying ‘understated opulence’ (Cole quoted in Odu, 2022).
Cole is an independent artist and creator in the realm of experimental jewellery. The fascination with jewels, precious metals, and stones began when she was a child. Methodologically, her designs are underpinned by extensive research and the fusion of traditional artisan and modern approaches to jewellery making. She blends the use of patina, oxidised metals, and gold plating. Cole exclusively employs recycled metals and gemstones obtained directly from African lapidaries supplied by Single Mine Origin (SMO) - a UK joint venture that ensures responsible sourcing by connecting with mines to deliver gold that can be traced throughout the supply chain. The gold that Cole uses comes from a mine in the Ivory Coast, and she avoids environmentally unsustainable gold or gold obtained through child labour or violence. Cole’s passion for jewellery led to a unique opportunity: she was privileged to gain an apprenticeship under Nana Poku Amponsah Dwumfour, personal goldsmith of the Asantehene, King of the Ashanti people, the first woman to receive this honoured position. Her goal was to learn the almost forgotten technique of wax casting while collaborating with Dwumfour to make pieces similar to his, but using the Western technique of Ferris wax.
Inspired by ideas of geological transformations, Cole intertwines intimate fragments of her past in her pieces, relating to her own memories and heritage. Her work is recognisable for its deliberate stylistic understatement in the craftsmanship and in the visible tribute it pays to the earth’s geological processes, which serve as a continued source of inspiration (Cole, 2022). Some of her jewellery series thus carry titles such as Erosion and Volcano. In addition to these geological references, Cole draws inspiration from local Ghanaian legends of people uncovering gold nuggets revealed by intense tropical rainfall. Her early experiences with jewellery pertain both to its creation and its acquisition. She remembers fashioning necklaces from Job’s tears (seeds from tall grasses) and purchasing her first personal piece: an exquisite pair of gold studs featuring radiant red stones (Cole, 2022). She also draws influences from the entire region of Western Africa, which is renowned for its skilled goldsmiths. Indeed, her designs reflect on what it means to belong and how elements of one’s past endure through migration. A series entitled Dzonu celebrates these concepts, more precisely encapsulating the importance of beads in both Ghanaian culture and in Cole’s personal family history. A second prominent theme in her work explores the profound beauty inherent in natural processes which are often viewed as destructive. In contrast, her series titled Sika is inspired by Malian gold and the iconic king, Mali Mansa Musa.
Cole belongs to a burgeoning group of contemporary Black jewellery artists who have garnered considerable recognition in recent years, thanks to increased representation in media and significant events such as the Brilliant & Black: Age of Enlightenment exhibition held at Sotheby's, London in 2022. In the same year, she was appointed by the V&A as the inaugural curator for diaspora jewellery. In 2023, she designed the jewellery that British actress Michaela Coel wore to the high profile Met Gala in New York. Emefa Cole lives and works in London, England. Her work is internationally acclaimed and can be found UK public collections including the V&A.