PROCESS | STUDIO | PURPOSE
EGYPT INSPIRED
From Egypt to Ethiopia, Mexico to Morocco, Chile to Colombia, I collect visual language. The sun is my muse.
I follow the sun. Collecting inspiration through travels is an integral part of my creative process and the quality of sunlight, its play on pattern, shape, and color, is at the heart of what I see and interpret into my jewelry designs.
Visiting the pyramids at Giza in Egypt was a lifelong dream fulfilled. (As you can probably tell from my ear-to-ear smile!) The texture of the stones, their placement in ascending rows and ridges was not exactly what I was expecting.
Things up close don’t always look as they do from far away, which I find interesting. I had thought of pyramids as smooth triangular structures, but when you get close you can see the laborious stacking that’s still a bit of an unsolved mystery. This inspired the texture I ultimately created for the Sun Goddess Supreme pendant necklace.
ARTIST MADE
I made paintings and sculptures before I made jewelry, and I think of my process as painting with fire.
I’m a visual artist turned jewelry maker, and I’ve been creating handmade fine jewelry for over 20 years. I sculpt and texture each piece by hand in my New York City studio. My collection is inspired by the sun, crafted using high karat gold and vibrant gemstones.
As a child I was completely lit up by the golden treasures of ancient Egypt. I later did my undergrad degree in art history and started my career at Sotheby’s Jewelry, where I was surrounded by the most extraordinary jewels in the world, igniting a lifelong passion.
While I find history and business interesting, I am at my heart a maker. I did a mini MFA at the School of Visual Arts, studied granulation at Jewelry Arts, and then discovered wax carving at the Fred de Vos workshop.
LIGHT POWERED
The choice to adorn your body is the power to express who you are. Each of us brings a light into the world. Let yours burn bright.
Twelve years ago, I held a plate of fire and made a wish. Aboard a small boat on the Ganges River, I watched as the sun rose and the bodies burned. I had come to Varanasi, where souls are believed to be set free, with a heavy heart.
As I traveled through India over the next few weeks, I was moved most of all by the women adorned with sleeves of bangles and gold-threaded saris, regardless what burdens they carried. I suddenly understood: adornment is not frivolous, it’s foundational. It carries our heritage and our dignity. My journey as a maker of objects of adornment had begun.
That fire remains with me today, in my mind’s eye, in my craft, in my heart. I wish again for what I wished for then: peace, love, and light.
May you feel the fire inside, the sun on your shoulders, and the power to light up the world.
Kommentare