I love jewelry – I think it’s the perfect accessory to an outfit and can show off a bit of your personality. I even enjoy reading up on the different gems you can use in jewelry! If you’re like me, check out https://www.haruni.com/ to find out more about sapphires. This is why I was so excited when I was approached by Emergence. The jewelry brand that pioneered the concept of the ‘tiny wearable sculpture’ released a micro-collection today in collaboration with The Peahen (ahh-hem: this means readers get first dibs and an exclusive discount). The collection, coined Emergence, has the all the ethos of a conscious brand with added cool credibility from its bespoke design.
Make Wilde is a newcomer to the ethical jewelry community. The line is the brainchild of this good-looking duo, Chloe Byrne and Andrew Sapienza.
Lately, they’ve been been making waves with their eccentric, earth-driven creations. Check out this Walking with Cake piece for more background. With the drop of their latest collection on The Peahen, I chatted with Chloe about the duo’s inspiration and ethical jewelry design.
First off, can you tell me what Emergence is about?
It’s a micro collection that focuses on solitary raw gemstones emerging from the gold organic elements.
Emergence builds from our roots [they got their start in jewelry making by upcycling finds from heaps of stockpiled art supplies and craft metals] and also showcases our move into sourcing eco-conscious materials. We’re working with a US manufacturer of metal leaf and Hoover and Strong, a certified, sustainable jewelry fabrication facility, also in the US. All of the precious metals produced at the factory are 100% recycled, conflict free and sustainable. We’re now sourcing all of our findings, wire, and sheet from them.
The new metals, incorporated with the eccentric stones, elevate Emergence to the next level. Deviating from the typical jewellry metals is potentially a bold move, but hopefully it pays off.
Does Emergence come from evolution or inspiration?
A little of both. The designs in Emergence are a concise expansion of our existing design principles, but they also draw new inspiration from our observations in nature.
Andrew and I noticed Emergence as a phenomenon – plants, bursting from the seed, emerging from the dirt; the caterpillar emerging from the cocoon as a butterfly; birth, of all living things. There is something innately fascinating about this idea that from one thing, emerges something completely unique and different, independent, and unexpected. It makes the outer shell, the gold leaf pieces, in our case, seem even more mysterious, giving the impression of creative capability, of having actually created the gemstones. That’s what you’re seeing come to life in these creations. If you’re someone who lives for gold jewelry, you can learn more at adinasjewels.com about their collection of super stylish, 14k gold jewelry to see what takes your fancy as you may well be enticed into buying something. But before you buy, decide what you could love to wear. Whether you want gold or gold plated jewelry. And do understand what is gold plated jewelry, whether it’ll suit your requirement or not.
Bespoke is having its moment in fashion right now. What sets your jewelry apart?
Our materials. They completely dictate the designs that we make, which is the opposite of what one would consider to be the traditional design process. Andrew and I love the eccentricities, the beautiful imperfections of objects crafted free-form: the noticeable human touch. We were determined to create objects that were not only physically beautiful, but beautifully sourced. I came to initially understand the sourcing of materials through my interest in food quality, leading me to then learn about quality of all products; I was determined to start making purchases that reflected my moral and ethical standards.
I always like to ask ethical designers what they take a stand against. So, what is Make Wilde NOT?
Machine-made. From the beginning, we wanted to make objects that were related to the Earth’s natural forms. I was reacting, creatively and emotionally, against the vast majority of manufactured clothing and accessories currently available in the market. I wanted to make sure that whatever we produced, we did by hand, one-by-one, with no exceptions.
What’s next for Make Wilde?
You can expect more designs from Emergence. As much as we have developed thus far, I think there will always be more to learn; in this way, we have only just begun to explore the concept of emergence, and are excited to keep creating wearable art with this theme to unveil new and exciting elements. you can definitely expect to see emergence showing up in Make Wilde in the months to come. “Emergence” will be a theme in our work for the foreseeable future.
It’s time to get your tiny wearable sculpture on! Shop the entire Emergence collection at MakeWilde.
Use discount code THEPEAHEN for 15% off the new collection.
