As someone who has worked in corporate design world, I was trained to create seasonal product, key items and make new collections. When I started my jewelry business, with limited editions I followed this similar thought process, albeit without seasons,  and introduced new collections thinking that was the way to refine my design language. 

When I transitioned into bigger and bolder product, I realized I wanted to have ideas and concepts that I can continuously plug into, that would truly be timeless jewelry designs. I started with two complementary ideas- Brass Band and Worn Years. I took the same material and treated it similarly yet differently. One ended up clean, architectural, bold and the other seemed to have history, wear, stress and character. Then followed, Drawing Series a few years ago when I introduced wire as a vehicle to create bold sculptural shapes. These ideas/collections still have pieces dating from 2012, alongside new work I drop in to continue to build out these stories.

And this year, I am bringing Elemental into the mix. At the end of 2020, I had this magical idea that I wanted to work in bronze. I wanted to step away from plating, I wanted true sculptural approach that would marry clean shapes I have been creating, but it would allow the passage of time in form of patina to take residence on the surface of jewelry. And I wanted big, thick wires to work with. I ordered all this material and proceeded to spend a month struggling and not getting anywhere.

 When I heated the wire I brought so much copper out on the surface that that beautiful color was all but gone. When you work with metal, you have to anneal it, heat it, to soften it so you can work with it. Bronze is an alloy between copper and tin,or zinc, and when you heat it, copper, since it's predominant in the mix, starts to take over.  Bronze is harder to shape than brass and my hands that are perfectly trained to bend metal to their will were meeting their intelligent edge. I was so disappointed and I also felt this pressure from my previous life that I needed to bring something new out into the world and I needed to have a collection that is starting the new year, showing my progress.  As I was hyper aware of this inner monologue, it didn't completely derail me. 

Simultaneously, you were custom ordering a lot jewelry in sterling silver. And it seemed so random, that now, this year, after all these years, you wanted silver.  And I kept making and sending these orders out and finally one day I picked up the phone, placed an order on quite a chunk of silver wire (this was the time when the stock market was going crazy and silver was having a gamestop moment!:) and decided to create this new work in precious metal, staying true to the idea of purity, in some sense, and responding to what was in front of me. 

And here it is, a new avenue to travel on and drop in jewelry pieces as I conjure them in my head and work them through my hands. 

See full collection HERE

Tell me, do you love silver? Was this a good decision? How do you push through obstacles, when you're not able to achieve what you have envisioned? Would love to hear some feedback from you!:) 

And as always, thank you for reading!