When I began to make jewelry six years ago, I rarely liked what was available, and the pieces I did appreciate were beyond my budget. As a creative self starter, the obvious solution was to make my own designs.
After experimenting for a year, I began to develop a distinctive voice as a jeweler, and decided to try to make a living selling my work. From the start I used sterling silver –which is expensive– so I rarely kept anything I made. As soon as I sold a piece, I turned around and bought enough silver to make the next. In this way, I grew my business, and eventually made enough money to make jewelry that I could keep.
When I decided to make a cast collection and replicate my best pieces, I had to keep the original in sterling silver in case the rubber mold was ever damaged. And so, my personal jewelry collection kept growing.
Now, I rarely leave my house unadorned. I feel protected and powerful when I wear my jewelry. Every piece in my collection has polished with time, and like old tools that are given good use, they become more beautiful with wear.
People ask me if I find it hard to let go of my work. If I knew that the piece I just made would be my last, I would certainly keep it. But I hope to live a long and productive life, and the pleasure I get from creating my work is greater than the one I obtain from wearing it. I also confess that every now and then I can't resist making myself something I love.
Totem Series
The Totem necklaces are now available in my online shop. If you no longer see them there, it means they have sold.
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Completion
I like finishing a series. After several days of focused work, it is the first chance I get to step back and take a careful look at what I made.
I can see how one idea led to the next, what pieces move me more than others, and what changes I would make in the future. I am always left with more ideas than when I began.
Completion Totem.
Handmade with amethyst and 100% recycled sterling silver.
Available in my online shop.
Embrace
There is a large construction going on in the building next door, and for the past few months we have been awakened by loud bangs against our wall, which continue throughout the day.
Instead of suffering, I decided to apply what I learnt from Vipassana meditation and accept things as they are. Now I join the sounds of demolition as I happily forge away, grateful to no longer be the only one that makes noise in this place.
Embraced Totem.
Handmade with amber and recycled sterling silver.
Available in my online shop.
Constructed
What most inspires me about Mexico City is the architecture. When I walk the streets I feel as if I travel through time, as houses from multiple eras line each block. There are hardly any building codes to limit style, so the colors, textures, heights and shapes are endless.
Some constructions are finished, but others forever await the extra income needed to complete them. I find that this eclectic work-in-progress is the perfect expression of life itself, and as an artist I could not imagine a more stimulating landscape.
Constructed Totem.
Handmade with carnelian and 100% recycled sterling silver.
Available in my online shop.
Origami Totem
I recently had the pleasure to read the interview Elizabeth Gilbert gave Tom Waits for GQ Magazine.
In my favorite part, Tom Waits talks about how his children have enriched his creative process, and recalls a time when his daughter helped him write a song.
"We were on a bus coming to L.A. and it was really cold outside. There was this transgender person –to be politically correct– standing on a corner wearing a short little top with a lot of midriff showing, a lot of heavy eye makeup and dyed hair, and a really short skirt. And this guy, or girl, was dancing all by himself. And my little girl saw it and said, "It must be really hard to dance like that when you're so cold and there's no music."
Origami Totem.
Handmade with labradorite and 100% recycled sterling silver.
Soon in my online shop.
Spyglass
“Anybody with artistic ambitions is always trying to reconnect with the way they saw things as a child.
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Spyglass Totem.
Handmade with kyanite and 100% recycled sterling silver.
Available in my online shop.