Aphrodite Collection

The collection is aptly named after the goddess of love herself: Aphrodite. My favorite greek goddess conjures up the incredible marble statue Venus de Milo and red roses. Aphrodite’s legendary beauty sparked wars with the gods as she rode through the air on swan drawn carts. These ancient fables inspired me to look at ancient greek as a source of inspiration for this collection. The jewelry from that period was ornate and very decorative. Crowns, earrings and bracelets had a lush texture of lace like nature motifs that made the jewelry feel almost weightless. Similar to Art Nouveau that drew inspiration from natural forms and structures to make lavish and indulgent works.

“Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support for their new works collaborate with the creator.”
-Antoni Gaudí

When I first designed this collection I began with a reflection of my materials. I had many rubies that I acquired last year from my best friend’s dad who is a retired gem cutter. I spent all year developing my core collection of white and monochromatic classic designs I almost entirely forgot to play with color. I began to lay out the red and pink rubies into color gradients on my bench and the designs started to form right there. Melting the rubies in their supportive wax settings allowed me to piece together the shapes and forms of the designs that were then attached to a wax ring shape or left as earrings. Then the prongs were added one by one in wax to secure the rubies in their designs and hold them to be “cast in place” directly into the molten metal. I decided to give this collection with a sumptuous satin finish that I feel compliments the raw rubies as well as aligns with my design inspiration of soft gold sculptures from ancient Greece.

Rubies have a very sordid history. Prized for centuries as a precious gemstone because of its durability and unique color this has increased the demand and also the potential ethical dangers of acquiring the stone. Myanmar (Burma) is the biggest offender when it comes to Rubies, and luckily there are many other ethical options to sourcing rubies. Myanmar is notorious for forced labor and also child labor and use the gem trade to finance their civil war. Ethical alternatives include Tanzania, Malawi and Sri Lanka where there are higher changes of the workers being treated with respect and working in small scale mining operations.