My real name is Tihana Rukavina but in the online world I chose to go by the nickname Ignis. I was born on the 7th of December 1980 in the city of Rijeka (Croatia/Europe). I had attended both elementary and high school in the city of Opatija, but my university days were spent in the city of Rijeka. The formal education I was part of was not arts and crafts oriented, so to some extent I could classify myself as a self-taught artist. Besides the trial and error learning, most of my knowledge was gained while browsing the Internet on the subjects that were at the given time in the focus of my interest. Today, except for a few bought books and magazines, Internet continues to serve as my primary source of information, knowledge and inspiration. Despite the fact I sometimes used to make jewelry pieces even when I was much younger, 2003 was the year when I dedicated myself more intensely to the world of jewelry making. In the early days I was fascinated by the world of polymer clays but soon my primary interest shifted to the domain of wirework. Even today, wire continues to be the medium of choice when it comes to expressing my creative ideas. As a current area of my intense interest I could point the domain of precious metals and silversmithing, but also the domain of precious and semiprecious stones. In the future I would like to dedicate myself exclusively to the precious materials. Except jewelry making my time is also often spent on photography and web design.