Projects

A minaret is a feature of Islamic architecture and is the place from where the call to prayer is sent out five times a day. It is usually a lofty, slender, tower or turret attached to a mosque, surrounded by or furnished with one or more balconies.

The Minaret comprises of a self-supporting vessel that is inspired by the balconies, turrets and spires of a minaret. Interconnected peyote woven spiked waves surround the body alluding to the balcony of a minaret. Little bumps provide texture to the body. The lid is the spire of the minaret and is given shape by weaving around a wooden form. The entire vessel is embellished either on the surface or through the use of different coloured beads to showcase the ornate beauty and intricacy of Islamic design.

DIMENSIONS

Vessel width : 9cm (3.5")

Vessel Height : 21cm (8.25")

Her beauty is legendary. Her face ended a dynasty.

Was she an innocent or was she a femme fatale?

Yang Yu Huan or as she is more popularly known as Yang Gui Fei (杨贵妃) meaning prized consort was said to be born to a Sichuan official in 719AD. She first came to the attention of the great Emperor Xuan Zong when she was presented as the bride for his son. So enamoured was he by her beauty that he took her for his own and placed her into his imperial harem.

He was so besotted that spent all his time with her, granting her every wish and drew away from his duties. Crooked ministers and greedy courtiers soon took advantage of this. A foreign general, An Lu Shan, became a court favourite of Yang Gui Fei who obviously held great sway over the Emperor. He soon started a rebellion and took power. The Emperor was forced to abdicate his throne. Yang Gui Fei was said to either have been strangled by a eunuch or she hung herself from a silken rope.

So was she a tragic victim or a decadent diva who sowed the seeds to the downfall of an empire. We will never know. What is not in doubt is her beauty.

Ode to Imperial Consort Yang is a tribute to her famed beauty. Beautiful sparkling long oval rhinestones are bezelled and assembled over a graceful tassel. The tassel pendant is hung from a sinuous rope. The decorative double woven clasp of the rope can be worn in the front like a choker style necklace or as a traditional clasp at the back.

DIMENSIONS

Maximum Length of Rope : 112cm (44")
Bail To Tassel : 17cm (6.75")

At the end of the handle of the Little Dipper sits a very bright star. A very special star that never seems to move in relation to the North Pole of the Earth. It shines brightly in the same location all year long, it does not rise or set, making it an invaluable navigation tool.

And the name of this beautiful bright star is Polaris also known as the North or Pole Star or if you prefer Alpha Ursae Minoris. For travellers since the beginning of time, finding Polaris means you know where North is and consequently you know the way home.

Our Polaris is a rotating star around a crystal core. Tiny delicious sparkling fire polished beads twinkle throughout the spinning star. Cubic Right Angle Weave is used to give Polaris its shape and structure.

The beaded Polaris can be used as an ornament to adorn your Christmas tree or as a pendant to adorn yourself. It can also sit on your table as a fidget spinner while you ponder on the mystery and wonder of the stars that light our night sky.

Click on the video to watch Polaris rotate.

DIMENSIONS

Width : 6.5cm (2.5")
Pendant Height : 8.5cm (3.5")

Scheherazade, the mythical storyteller of the Thousand Nights and One Nights.

The story goes that Shahryar, the king of India and Southeast Asia found out one day that his first wife was unfaithful to him. Therefore, he resolved to marry a new virgin each day and behead the previous day's wife. This will ensure that she would have no chance to be unfaithful to him. He had killed 1,000 such women by the time he was introduced to Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter.

Against her father's wishes, Scheherazade volunteered to spend one night with the king. Once in the king's chambers, Scheherazade asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved sister, Dunyazade, who had secretly been prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story during the long night. The king lay awake and listened with awe as Scheherazade told her first story. The night passed by, and Scheherazade stopped in the middle of the story. The king asked her to finish, but Scheherazade said there was no time, as dawn was breaking. So, the king spared her life for one day to finish the story the next night. The next night, Scheherazade finished the story and then began a second, even more exciting tale, which she again stopped halfway through at dawn. Again, the king spared her life for one more day so she could finish the second story.

At the end of 1,001 nights, and 1,000 stories, Scheherazade told the king that she had no more tales to tell him. During these 1,001 nights, the king had fallen in love with Scheherazade. He spared her life, and made her his queen.

Just like the Scheherazade of Thousand and One Nights, the Scheherazade collar is exotic, lavish and luxurious. Dramatic double layer herringbone “fans” form the links between sparkling Swarovski crystals. Two “fans” are connected end to end to form a dramatic central pendant suspended from a glittering crystal and ending with another beautiful crystal.

What are seed pods?

Seedpods are incredible vessels, tasked with protecting seeds as they mature and assisting with their dispersal.

“Seedpods are these amazing little packages of DNA but often they are overlooked.

People see them as the death of the flowers, but in fact they are the opposite: the future of the species.”

Anna Laurent, flora-focused writer, producer, and photographer (www.annalaurent.com)

The seed develops in a fertilized in the flower blossom and they grow and mature, protected from the elements by the seedpod. And when they are ready to become a plant, the pod bursts open spilling all the seeds, as far away as possible from the mother to ensure the survival of the new plant.

Our seedpods unlike the real seedpod, stay a pod forever. Tiny beads surround a core bead to form colourful little pods. A bunch of multi-coloured and multi-sized pods are hung from a 6 sided peyote bail. The pendant is then hung from a richly textured spiral rope.

Equestrian dressage invoke images of nobility, elegance, romance and the beautiful relationship of man with his horse. Saddlery is part and parcel of this beautiful and time honoured sport. Among this is the stirrup, a light frame or ring that holds the foot of a rider, attached to the saddle by a strap. Usually used as a pair and as an aid in mounting and a support while riding.

Just like the stirrup used by equestrians, the necklace features a stirrup as its centrepiece. A beautiful rectangular crystal sparkle as a pendant below the stylised stirrup. Unembellished and yet elegant, the crystal and the stirrup form the same beautiful relationship between the necklace and the wearer as the man with his horse.

A crystal embellished right angle weave rope appear almost the reins a rider uses to guide his horse through the ballet that is dressage. Two more pairs of stirrups provide further reinforcement to the equestrian theme.

An amphora, one of the most common forms of Greek pottery, is a type of container of a characteristic shape and size, descending from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Always with two vertical neck-handles and used for storing and transporting oil, wine and foodstuffs such as olives. Most were produced with a pointed base to allow upright storage by embedding in soft ground, such as sand.

The Amphora has the same characteristic shape of a Greek amphora. Although traditional amphorae often have lids, most have not survived through time. Our amphora is capped with a beautiful melon bead encased with beads.

The body of the amphora is richly decorated with a combination of fire polish beads, baby melon beads and seed beads. The embellishments end in a point resembling the characteristic shape of amphorae. A luxurious tassel from the point of the amphora emphasises the elegance of the sumptuous shape.

A resplendent rope of various seed beads and spacers simulate the vertical “handles” of an amphora and forms a luxurious necklace to suspend the equally opulent amphora.

A bird’s nest is a structure built by birds to hold eggs and to raise its young. Usually composed of organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves. Human-made materials, such as string, plastic, cloth, or paper are sometimes used as well. In general, the female bird does most or all of the nest construction.

Our bird’s nest however is made completely of little glass beads. A cup nest surrounded by leaves and berries rests atop a cuff blank completely encased in exquisitely woven beads. And in its centre, a beautiful lampwork bead sits in the nest.

A fun and quirky project that is bound to bring a smile to all who witness the bird’s nest.

The flat chenille base is taught with the kind permission of Diána Balogh owner of the copyright for flat chenille. 

The Chatelaine is the mistress of a castle or a large and elegant household. It would not be surprising that she would have among her possessions many beautiful jewels and trinkets befitting her station in life. Passed from generations to generations these trinkets would be valuable heirlooms.

The Chatelaine’s Heirloom is a self-supporting hollow 3D vessel. Little beads woven into a series of little cubes that form the core supporting spokes. These spokes hide a second colour embellishment on the inside giving it its exquisite jewel tones. An embellished “waist” of crystals further gives the vessel a sense of luxury and its jewel appearance. More crystals embellish both the top and end points of the vessel.

The vessel is further suspended from a richly embellished rope echoing the same jewel tones. In lieu of a bail, the rope terminates with a crystal orb at each end. The ends are then attached to the vessel itself to become another accent to the whole.

Peter Carl Fabergé was a Russian jeweller best known for the creation of the famous Fabergé eggs. Made using precious metals and gemstones, the eggs are an infinitely more luxurious evolution of the Easter eggs.

Between 1885 and 1917, he is believed to have created as many as 69 eggs but to-date only 57 of them are known to survive. The first Fabergé egg was created for Tsar Alexander III who wanted to give his wife the Empress Maria Feodorovna an Easter egg possibly to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of their betrothal.

The Fabergé Vessel is inspired by these exquisite Easter eggs. It is an egg-shaped self-supporting vessel made entirely out of seed beads. Embellished with sparkling crystal, Czech fire polished and cabochons, the Vessel is topped with a dome shaped lid that opens to a cavity for all your precious keepsakes.

DIMENSIONS

Height : 10cm (4")

Width : 8.25cm (3.25")

Few flowers are as important to Eastern cultures as the Lotus, and each culture ascribes a slightly different meaning to the flower. It holds enormous symbolic weight, spanning various thousand-year-old Eastern cultures and is considered one of the most sacred flowers today. 

In Buddhism the lotus is known to be associated with purity, spiritual awakening and faithfulness. The flower is considered pure as it is able to emerge from the murky waters from which it grows in the morning and look perfectly clean. It fades in the late afternoon to re-emerge again in the morning as pristine as it was the day before. And according to Buddhist myth, Buddha appeared atop a floating lotus, and his first footsteps on Earth left lotus blossoms.

To Hindus the lotus flower is associated with beauty, fertility, prosperity, spirituality, and eternity. Many of the gods and goddesses of Hinduism are linked to the flower. The goddess of prosperity, Laxmi, is usually depicted as being seated atop a fully opened lotus flower while Brahma, the god of creation is depicted as emerging from a lotus.

The Lotus Cuff is the companion piece to The Lotus Sautoir. The cuff is a series of inter-connected stylised petals. It glistens with the sparkle of beautiful crystals to encircle your wrist. A beautiful cubic zirconia clasp is matched to the cuff to further enhance its sophistication and beauty.

Few flowers are as important to Eastern cultures as the Lotus, and each culture ascribes a slightly different meaning to the flower. It holds enormous symbolic weight, spanning various thousand-year-old Eastern cultures and is considered one of the most sacred flowers today.

In Buddhism the lotus is known to be associated with purity, spiritual awakening and faithfulness. The flower is considered pure as it is able to emerge from the murky waters from which it grows in the morning and look perfectly clean. It fades in the late afternoon to re-emerge again in the morning as pristine as it was the day before. And according to Buddhist myth, Buddha appeared atop a floating lotus, and his first footsteps on Earth left lotus blossoms.

To Hindus the lotus flower is associated with beauty, fertility, prosperity, spirituality, and eternity. Many of the gods and goddesses of Hinduism are linked to the flower. The goddess of prosperity, Laxmi, is usually depicted as being seated atop a fully opened lotus flower while Brahma, the god of creation is depicted as emerging from a lotus.

The Lotus is a stylished depiction of the beautiful lotus blossom. Our lotus, unlike the flower, never fades at night and is eternally pure in its lines. The sparkling crystals at the centre represent the seed of this beautiful blossom.