What goes into building a jewelry collection

I recently launched my holiday collection (every day more and more items are up and listed in the shop), and I wanted to share a little of what went into creating this collection. If you regularly keep up with my blog, by now you have seen the posts about the photoshoot and the launch party, but today is more about delving into the inspiration and design process that went into this Holiday season. 

Here are just a few of the designs that make up this decidedly simple, yet elegant collection. Focused on an abundance of quartz points in clusters of 3-5, this collection at first glance appears more understated than previous years.

But that is far from the case. 

My goal this holiday season was to create designs that resonated with this season, while still being wearable throughout the year. My goal was a non literal translation of an icy, wintry image that would be gift-able, universal, and ultimately glamorous enough to adorn my customers at their fanciest holiday gathering.

This whole process began in September. I had barely finished launching my fall collection when I started kicking around ideas for what would make up the Holiday line. I had in my head the large scale, hauntingly beautiful ice caves of Sweden. While I have never been, it is high on my list of places to go, and living in the desert this seemed something so strange and wonderful I had to explore it more. 

A simple google search reveals hundreds of images like the ones above. Walls of ice, blue glows and iridescent beauty. It didn't take me long to go from there to putting together a vision of an ethereal beauty who would live in a place like this. 

She is a little mysterious, bewitching. She isn't a frail flower, this woman has to survive in an extreme environment. What does her jewelry look like? Elegant, simple but statement. She adorns herself in literal versions of the beauty around her.

After identifying this muse, I put together my mood board, and the whole collection started forming from there.

The hardest part was getting together enough small quartz points to make this collection happen. I normally do most of my crystal buying at the start of the year, so I had to reach out to a few sources to make this happen. I also went to a few local gem shows and spent hours (seriously, hours) searching through piles of quartz points to find just the perfect ones.

I then began grouping them into clusters of 3, 4 and 5. I am always partial to odd numbers, so most of the items in the collection have 3 or 5 points you can see. I wanted to incorporate elements of previous designs as well, and the triangle pendants and circular chokers were a natural layer to add in. 

All of this culminated in the photo shoot. It is important to me to show how the jewels are intended to be worn according to the artist, and I hope the images Kate Alison Photography captured help to show the inspiration and mood of the collection well. 

All in all, I am thrilled with the way months of sketching, sourcing, creating and photographing turned out. This holiday collection is one I am proud of.