holiday!

Hello there, I'm back from my holiday to Italy and feeling pretty inspired! I played tourist for 12 days around Florence and Tuscany with lots of walking, cramped car journeys and finally found time to devour Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie. I don’t read nearly as much as I should. Prior to my trip, I had been working on a collection heavily inspired by marble stone columns, grand Renaissance interiors and Romanesque carvings and sculpture. Italy has done well to fuel my fascination. Read on for a short taster of my latest inspiration and development.

The Cathedral of Siena was a notable favourite. Ornately decorated inside and out, Siena’s Duomo was built between 1215 and 1263 and features the most amazing gothic sculpture and vast frescoes.

seraphinite specimen / natural turquoise / marbled fabric swatch / self-made japser and brass necklace

Currently obsessing over anything remotely marble-esque. My attempt to marble fabric didn't turn out so bad, although I definitely need more practice. Black and white was the easy choice but I plan to experiment further and make an attempt at replicating the feather-like patterns found in the seraphinite specimen. How incredible would a full length skirt or dress look in that pattern?!

This large slab of seraphinite stone is one of my favourite specimens. With its feather-like patterns in forest green and silver striations of mica, the stone gets its name from the Latin word "seraphin," which means first order of angels.

Back to Siena’s Duomo, the striped columns consist of black and white marble, those being the symbolic colors of Siena, etiologically linked to black and white horses of the legendary city's founders, Senius and Aschius.

Pictured above is one of the initial samples made prior to my trip. Inspired by marble columns and pillars, the necklace consists of jasper beads paired with brass tubes and discs. Parts of the collection are almost a progression from the tribal/heishi style I had last been working on. I'll save the remaining images until I have a more cohesive collection to share. Expect lots more semi-precious stones, this time in shades of deep purple and black, paired with super soft navy suede and layered metal. Things should be getting a little more anti-pastel around here. And before I forget, thank you to Hannah and Landon for the blog feature/interview while I was away. One of my all-time favourites, their blog, flickr and everything else is not to be missed. You can read the interview here. image source: personal photographs links: visit here for further information on Siena's Duomo