The Sunday Times: Issue #15

Lots to discuss this week! We have a major pre-order event happening Monday, a collection in the works for release in June with the first ring reveals this week, pearl vessels are being made in the studio again, and the website got a refresh!

Let's dive into all of it below.

So pour yourself a cup of tea and get comfy.

"The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them."

- Elizabeth Gilbert

FONTANELLA PREORDER

MONDAY, MAY 5TH AT 3PM ET

The Fontanella ("little fountain") Pendants will be available for the first time tomorrow, May 5th on the website. Ordering will open at 3pm ET and will remain open until further notice. They will be available in silver for $450 and 14k Gold for $1,950. This is the first time I'll be offering an item in silver and may be a foreshadowing of things to come as the price of gold sky rockets. I've decided to hand fabricate them so it will take me a while to make them all, but expect the lead time to be around 6 weeks. I'll of course ship them as I make them, so some will go out much quicker. The three styles shown above will be the ones you can choose from, with possible new styles coming in the future.

PEARL VESSELS

CURRENTLY IN THE STUDIO

I'm excited to be making some pearl vessels again as they are SO fun to make. I've got a huge collection of freshwater pearls in fun shapes and sizes to make unique and individual vessels with. No glue is used to hold it together, just tension and riveting. It's been a tough puzzle to figure out how to make these work but I'm proud of my method. Here is one that I just completed. Lots more to come!

DIAMONDS??

I'M JUST AS SURPRISED AS YOU ARE

Not long ago, I was very turned off by the idea of working with diamonds. I used moissanite in my work instead, thinking that a lab created stone was a better choice. And this is not to say that a lab created stone isn't a better choice, I'm just listening to the responsible sourcing experts around me and allowing my mind to open to the possibility that a natural stone that already exists might be a better choice for the environment. Of course, these antique or post-consumer diamonds were mined and cut years ago so we don't have information on their provenance and journey, but, in a way, the damage is already done. I'm open to working with existing material as well as any that is traceable and benefits the mining community under ethical practices (such as the new stones coming from Siera Leone via D'Amadeo and GemFair).

Antique cuts in stones like these are rare and I feel that, in a world where lab created diamonds are becoming ubiquitous, these stand to hold their value in that their supply is naturally dwindling as more antique diamonds are claimed and set into new jewelry.

Shown above are two Old Mine Cut diamonds I purchased from Perpetuum Jewels in Tucson earlier this year. (To learn more about Perpetuum Jewels and their practices, visit their website.) I plan to use these two diamonds as well as other blush and white gemstones in an upcoming Ceremony Collection due out at the end of this year. So stay tuned!

SPEAKING OF DIAMONDS...

Some Foundation Collection pieces that have been missing from the collection for a couple months are back now - but with post-consumer diamonds! Some of them have also been renamed:

• The "Volta" is now the "Arco." A lot of folks were already mistakenly calling the arched ring (shown above) the Arco so I decided to change it since Arco means "arch" in Italian anyway. See it here.
• The "Arco" is now the "Palazzo" Ring. This statement ring features a dazzling Old Euro cut diamond and is fit for royalty, so it made sense to rename it to the Italian word for "palace." See it here.
• "The Stars Align" band is now "The Stelle" band. Meaning "stars" in Italian and named after my mom and my niece (both named Stella). See it here.
• Keeping with the Italian theme, the "Pillar" band is now the the "Colonna" band. See it here.

You might also notice that the prices for many of the Foundation Collection pieces have increased. I had been putting off increasing my prices since 2022 (when an ounce of gold was $1,626). Since it is currently listed at double that price ($3,246), I had to finally make that change. I know it's not fun to see such a jump, but believe me, it's not fun for me either. I'll be incorporating more silver into my lineup in the future to try and mitigate this gap.

THE LATEST FOR PARADISO ??

A FEW FINISHED RINGS

This week I was finally able to set the stones in the castings that arrived from my wax carvings! It was so satisfying to be able to finish and polish these. I love how they turned out and definitely feel like I've got a solid direction for the remaining collection of rings. I'll get as many carved as I can between now and June, and will likely have to do a Paradiso Part 1 and 2 like I did with Divino last year.