Dana Seachuga & Octave Vandeweghe

Lapidarist

©Studio DO

Cutting-edge collaboration

Dana grew up in Israel, Octave in Belgium
They work at a former factory in Antwerp
They like to develop their own techniques

Both Dana Seachuga and Octave Vandeweghe were educated in jewellery design and stone cutting. They studied in their countries of origin, respectively Israel and Belgium, but both also gained experience in Germany. Their workshop is located in an old warehouse in Antwerp. “I started to make gemstone works with self-made machines assembled from scrap, broken machines and DIY tools,” says Octave. “I then joined his atelier, bringing along a few old-fashioned stone cutting machines,” adds Dana. At first, Dana and Octave focused on their individual works and only took on a few commissions together. “While collaborating, we discovered common interests in the craft,” they explain. And thus was born Studio DO. The name refers to their initials, the act of doing and the acronym for ‘domestic objects’.

Interview

©Studio DO

©Studio DO

What was the first work you made?: Our ﬁrst work brought our worlds of jewellery and sculptures together. We took a malachite rock as the basis of a sculpture and extracted some cylinders from it, with which we made earrings and a ring. The rock stores the jewellery in a sculptural way.
Do you master any speciﬁc techniques?: We master a wide range of traditional techniques, but our main interest lies in developing our own techniques, to accomplish uncommon designs. We aim to make our designs look simplistic in appearance, which is only possible with innovative methods.
Could your craft be considered in danger?: We don’t believe so. We do however notice a shift of production to specific countries and there is an ongoing shift towards the use of modern machinery to replace slow and costly manual work. Changes will always occur, but the craft itself will not disappear.
What are your main sources of inspiration?: Firstly the material itself. A stone, and the simplest actions applied to it in order to give it a function, are a big source of inspiration. Secondly, we are moved by cultural and functional heritage, and specifically the cultural role of (gem)stones in the realm of functional objects.

Dana Seachuga & Octave Vandeweghe are expert artisans: they began their career in 2015