You know my creative universe and you know that I create jewelry by hand, but what does that mean? How do I proceed, where do I get my ideas, and above all, how do I realize them? Well, I explain all that to you in the following article, so enjoy your discovery!
1) Find the idea
The main idea behind all my inspirations is to transform ruins into wonders, in a dystopian context, where we would collect shards of concrete, among other things, to transform them into unique and elegant jewelry.
This is the starting point, which also explains the use of cement combined with other materials.
Secondly, my inspiration will come closer to one of my 6 universes:
- Urban Chic; my creations are inspired by ruined architecture, you will find modern and geometric lines, the mixture of the raw and the precious.
- Veg'Power; I seek to express the power of plants on our concrete constructions. The jewelry has softer, organic shapes and features bright colors.
- Mineral Sample; my jewelry must seem to come from excavations and extractions through the concrete floors. There you will find pendants in various shapes of "carrots" or sculptures mixing cement and fine stones.
- Cosmos; my creations are inspired by the sky, the cosmos and its stars, the only elements appearing stable and beyond our reach.
- the masculine; where my ideas come from male interests such as mechanics, navigation, electronics...
- and finally Urban Fossil; where the main idea is to give a second life to an obsolete or broken object in the form of jewelry. The concept of upcycling is preponderant here!
2) Make a sketch
Once the universe has been chosen and the idea found, I put it down on paper in the form of one or more sketches. This step allows me to visualize the proportions of the jewel more precisely, to understand its aesthetic and to make the necessary modifications.
3) Prototyping
When I am satisfied with my sketches and I have an idea of the feasibility of my project, I move on to the (long but very important) stage of prototyping! This step allows me to ensure the feasibility of my idea, to evaluate its cost price, the work time required and to calculate the selling price, and therefore whether it can be profitable or not.
This simply involves making a prototype, most often in an inexpensive metal like brass or copper, while timing myself. I thus test the planned mixtures of materials, the solutions to sometimes find to obtain the desired result and also have an idea of the time it will take me to create the jewel. This step also sometimes includes finding new suppliers for specific elements that I want to integrate.
4) Manufacturing
My favorite stage, or at least for the first creation, when I build little by little and I see the idea gradually come to fruition under my fingers... then I have a blast!
Of course, as I create small series, I then organize myself in such a way as to group the work of the parts in stages in order to save time: cutting the metal, filing, grinding, brazing, molding (the creation of the molds being done in the previous step), cement treatment (incrustations, colors, waterproofing, etc.), finishes (polishing, resining) and assembly!
My jewelry is finally finished, all that's left is : put them on sale!
Now that you know the steps of my creative process, you may have other questions? If this is the case, don't hesitate, I would be happy to answer it! In any case, you will understand that my work is artisanal and passionate, and that I care about the carbon footprint of my creations!
Each piece of jewelry is handmade and is by definition unique... to discover online or in real life, it depends!
Creatively yours;
Laure