Adornment is one of our oldest languages.
Before there was fashion or status or luxury, there was a primal desire to decorate the body. If I may digress, this obsession is directly related to my interest in body decoration and even textiles as they relate to our human story. More on that later…
This debut collection is deeply inspired by a woman I met when I was young. Her name was Livinia.
She had a shop and gallery in Hinsdale that was this magical sort of salon where she mostly sold beads from all over the world and artwork.
She was beautifully eccentric, warm, mysterious, elegant, and fun. She invited everyone into her shop as if it were her home, regardless of age.
Livinia frequently had visitors from Africa hanging out with her — men in colorful robes wearing beads — and they brought Africa to her. And they were her friends.
She would always make you feel like an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long time. So we went, and we stayed, and we talked, and we beaded. Some were there as serious makers; others were just kids making necklaces and bracelets. My friend and I once gathered some ancient beads, went off to a patch of grass nearby, and adorned a pouch we made from deerskin.
I still have that pouch, and it is one of my prized possessions — a reminder of a time before us, and a time before the real world had taken hold, when we had time to sit and make something that came from within.
No classes needed. We just created this beautiful and imperfect little thing
I had already been exposed to imperfection as beauty through my mother, and Livinia’s place, “Eye on Design”, was truly a place of inspiration and a kind of secret hideaway that would nourish our creative souls for years.
I have created this new — my first — collection of jewelry pieces with Livinia as my muse.
Ancient Roman glass beads, desert stones, antique hand-painted Venetian beads, African trade beads, garnets, lapis lazuli, brass, ribbon, jade, amulets, vintage bits and bobs are just some of the elements from across the globe, eras, and origins, curated for their enduring presence, history, textures, and colors.
Repurposing and elevating these relics preserves the tension between rawness and luxury — between artifact and adornment.
Each piece is unique. Each piece is intended for those who collect with intention and who seek and understand the beauty in imperfection.
View Collection HERE