G-l-a-m-o-r-o-u-s...

Some of our newest  designs. If you'll be at Couture this week, please stop by our booth, DA01, and see them in person!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Last week, someone asked me: what are your favorite things? Sounds like a simple question, but I challenge you to answer it without a great deal of thought. I struggled with the idea a bit… realizing that I—like most people—get so caught up in the day-to-day routine, we don’t stop to think about the special little things in our life that bring us joy, inspire us, and make us who we are.

No matter what your calling, the things you love shape your personality and your work. That is especially true for a jewelry designer. My jewelry embodies my unique vision, personality and passions. These, in turn, connect emotionally with those who wear my designs. After much thought, I came up with a shortlist. These are some of my favorite things… each inspire me as a person and, ultimately, the jewelry I design.

Quiet mornings at sunrise

Quiet and tranquility

As the mother of two small children, me time is at a premium. The morning after the “favorite things” question was posed to me, I sat in my living room in N.Y. at 6 a.m. Everyone else in my home was asleep and, gazing out at the Hudson River and sipping my coffee, I sat immersed in the soft colors of the early morning, the quiet hush of the house, the peace and tranquility of this, my favorite place.

Endless days on the beach

I am, and always have been, drawn to the water. So much so, that I insisted on a New York apartment from which I could see the river! Growing up in Sao Paulo, I had my favorite weekend seaside getaways. When I moved to New York 10 years ago, I quickly found a similar refuge: the beach in Eastport. I escape to our beach house in Eastport as much as possible. In fact, my Oceano Collection was inspired by my time there.

Vibrant colors

Orange, one of my new favorite colors!

I don’t have a favorite color for life. Right now, my favorites are green and orange… which is reflected in my newest collections.  I’ve found myself opting for vibrant hues when I get manicures… and I have my eye on an intense green dress to wear during the Couture show!

New York’s Upper West Side and my neighborhood restaurants

I adore the mix of quiet and vibrant that my neighborhood offers. It blends the quintessential New York vibrancy with the comforting feeling of home. I also love my restaurants. Exploring is fun, but--like my design aesthetic--I tend to find special things and make them my own.

Lightheartedness

Design is all about the little,
sometimes quirky details

A sense of lightness and humor is essential to my life. You’ll find it in a simple quirky element of a serious design (like this ring, right), as well as in my everyday personality. I embrace being irreverent sometimes. My husband and I went on a cruise two years ago, and our luggage was lost en route. We were left to spend our days in baggy, ill-fitting, ugly clothes. My husband was understandably frustrated, and I realized there was only one solution: humor. I decided to wear wild make-up in order to draw everyone’s eye away from my horrible clothes. My husband raised an eyebrow at first, but the lighthearted approach changed the entire situation and we had great fun.

Inspired by Life

As a jewelry designer, I’m frequently asked what inspires me to create a certain piece. Often, there is no simple definitive answer... even to me. My new Knot and Lace collections are perfect examples of that. Both focus heavily on texture and are reminiscent of fabric.  But why did I create these textures and these specific designs?

The technical explanation would be that, since moving to New York, I’ve personally spent more time sitting at the bench, thus more focused on hand-working the metal for this collection than I was in the past. Perhaps given my background in various tactile arts like pottery and ceramics, I naturally started to create sculpture from the gold.

I was drawn to fabric, I believe, because of where I now live: New York City… the fashion capital of the world. While living in Brazil, my jewelry focused almost exclusively on the stunning colors of gemstones. They were my passion and my greatest influence. Now, in New York, I am exposed to such a rich mix of fashion, the fabrics of the beautiful clothes I see on the streets every day are influencing my work.

Because gemstones—like my native Brazil—will forever be a part of my soul, Lace and Knot continue my tradition of celebrating beautiful stones… this time set in sculptural gold designs that represent my new home in New York. Given the juxtaposition, I suppose you might say that Lace and Knot are inspired, simply, by the journey of my life.