Lucija Perko is an architect, designer, and multifaceted creator driven by curiosity, respect for heritage, and an unyielding desire to connect cultures. Under her brand Stories of Silver, she develops handmade silver jewelry, created in collaboration with the Karen people, where ancient silversmithing techniques are enhanced with a modern design approach. But jewelry is only one piece of her broad creative mosaic.
Lucija is the kind of designer who rarely sticks to one thing: she is also an interior and furniture designer, an amateur restorer, an antique collector, a lecturer, a guide along Slovenian cultural heritage routes, an author of professional articles, and a regular participant in international conferences. She is currently also a doctoral student, focusing on the role of design in heritage interpretation.
Creative Journey between Florence, Bangkok, and Vipava Valley
Lucija graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in Florence, where she first studied interior design and then industrial design. In her specialized studies, she focused on development strategies for crafts and trades, and early on began to connect traditional techniques with future-oriented design.
She gained her first professional experience at Ikea, but her inner compass led her elsewhere—to people, stories, and tradition. Even before moving to Thailand, as part of her studies and research, she often collaborated with European artisans, which strengthened her conviction that the future of design is inextricably linked to living craft knowledge. This very orientation later led her to Bangkok, where she initially went to lecture at a design faculty. There, she quickly felt a strong connection with the local environment, which led her to discover the northern border regions of Thailand, where she established her first contact with the Karen community. From these initial, purely research-based encounters, trust, collaboration, and friendship eventually grew, from which her brand Stories of Silver emerged.
After ten years of living in Italy, her path led her to Thailand, where she lectured at a design faculty for over a decade while also working at a very local level: in remote northern border regions, she researched and revived old craft techniques associated with the local communities.
Asia became her second home. With her husband and daughters—born in Bangkok and growing up in a quadrilingual environment—she traveled almost all Asian countries, but the family also returned to Slovenia and Italy every year, "so one knows where they come from."
The pandemic changed family life and brought them to the Vipava Valley. Today, Lucija lives in Podraga, where she is gradually restoring an old homestead—slowly, respectfully, by hand, as befits someone dedicated to heritage. When you don't find her traveling, she's in her workshop, where there's always something new on the table. Or old.
Jewellery that tells stories
The handmade silver jewellery created by Lucija is based on respect for the tradition and knowledge passed down through generations by the Karen community. Each piece carries a part of their identity, skill, and way of life. Instead of imposing a foreign aesthetic, Lucija works with artisans to find ways to elevate indigenous design expressions and place them in a modern design context.
At the same time, she also nurtures her connection with Slovenia. For museum and research projects, she has created collections dedicated to Plečnik, Fabiani, Old Slavic jewellery, and situla art. Common to all her products is a deep understanding of roots and the search for new ways to interpret heritage—with respect, knowledge, and subtle aesthetics.
