Arts
**A Thousand Facets**

Join blogger and jewelry aficionado A Thousand Facets as she sits down with today’s leading independent designers from around the globe to talk about how they got started, how they developed their style, and what inspires their designs.
In every episode A Thousand Facets , will be joined by her favorite artists and friends to talk about jewelry, first and foremost, with fun and insightful digressions about materials (gemstones, metal, enamel), techniques (stone carving, engraving, weaving). They’ll make you think about why we wear jewelry, how a single piece of jewelry can tell an entire story, and what goes into creating these wearable works of art.
You’ll be able to see select images of the jewelry discussed in each episode on Instagram @athousandfacets.

Latest Episodes:

Rachel Jones Feb 22, 2024

Show notes

A thousand facets sits with Rachel Jones, they talk about her beginnings in the jewelry world, her inspirations and how she found her voice!

We discuss her research on creating the ombre alloys that she is getting known for!

Hope you enjoy this wonderful conversation!

ABOUT RACHEL

Rachel’s handcrafted jewellery brings together colourful gemstones and gold that shifts in light that mesmerize.

Brimming with colour, each piece is a one of a kind treasure, that’s brings the joy of colour through artistry and craftsmanship.

Inspired by precious jewellery materials, Rachel works with the foundations of jewellery; gold and gemstones. Through hand selecting multi-coloured or colour changing gems to alloying her own gold in-house, Rachel creates future heirlooms with a contemporary twist.

Bespoke jewellery allows the wearer to combine their unique gemstone and coloured gold combination, the defines their style and personality.

Each piece starts its journey with a gemstone, hand selected by Rachel from trusted suppliers around the world, from Australian opals and sapphires to Brazilian tourmalines and Bolivian Ametrine.

Each gemstone is paired with the perfect colour and tone of gold, from buttery 18ct yellow to cool 18ct white or romantic 18ct pink gold. The alchemy of gold is used to craft a spectrum of tones and hues but alloying fine gold, fine silver, copper and sometimes palladium. This means each piece is individual to the wearer and will become a future heirloom to last for generations to come.

You can follow Rachel on Instagram @racheljonesjewellery, visit her website

https://www.racheljonesjewellery.com/

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

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Cristina Villegas/Moyo Gems Feb 08, 2024

Show notes

A thousand facets sits with Cristina Villegas from Moyo Gems and we talk about the importance of artisanal miner or small-scale miner (ASM). How she help created an environment of education and empowerment of women miners in Kenya and Tanzania to thrive and the importance of educating oneself in the gemstones and gold we use for our jewelry.

This is a truly important conversation.

About

Cristina Maria Villegas is the Director of Sustainable Jewelry & Strategic Initiatives at Pact, a global nonprofit organization at work in 40 countries worldwide. She is a leading expert on responsible mineral sourcing and on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). With deep experience across Africa, Asia and Latin America, she is best known for her specialty in colored gemstones, diamonds, and gold. Cristina is the co-founder of Moyo Gems, a direct sourcing initiative focused on the women gemstone miners and entrepreneurs of East Africa. She is a member of the Gemstone Knowledge Hub, is on the Board of Directors of Ethical Metalsmiths, is an ASM advisor to the Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030, and is a technical advisor to the Conservation X Prize’s Amazon Grand Challenge. She’s been quoted in Vogue, The Financial Times, The Guardian, Reuters, Wired, JCK, among others. She lectures for Columbia University’s Executive Course on Extractives and for Columbia University’s Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), where she leads the coursework on ASM. In 2021, she won the top prize in jewelry reform: The IAC Award for Leadership in Responsible Practice in Jewelry.

You can follow Cristina on Instagram @cristina.rocks and @moyogems, visit her website

www.moyogems.com , www.natureswealth.org

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

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Romilly Saumarez Smith Jan 25, 2024

Show notes

A thousand facets talk to Romilly Saumarez Smith and they talk about her beginnings as a book binder, her romance with jewelry and her wonderful translators!

About:

In Robert McFarlane's The Wild Places he says that “true wildness is hard to find any more but it is still there in the tiny plants, mosses and lichens that live between rocks and tussocks. They are complete worlds in themselves.”

I hope that my jewellery might be like that. I use diamond beads and small silver and gold pieces secured either side of a drilled out plate to build up these landscapes. The underside, where the wires are balled with the torch, becomes the roots as if a section of earth has been pulled from the ground.

Much of my deep imagination lies under the sea. I like the way that barnacles encrust the surface of things. It's a long process of buildup, a random design that looks completely meant. The making of a piece of jewellery takes time, the placement of small elements doesn't need to be planned too much but builds slowly to a whole.

You can follow Romilly on Instagram @romillysaumarezsmith2, visit her website

https://www.romillysaumarezsmith.com/

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

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Gabriella Kiss Jan 11, 2024

Show notes

On the premiere of Season two, A thousand facets sits with the incomparable Gabriella Kiss. They have a candid conversation about her

childhood, her love for everything nature and her relationship with Ted Muehling.

About:

Gabriella Kiss’ delicate, figurative jewelry is at once poetic and scientific. Meticulously crafted in the finest materials, her precision reveals the awesome beauty of nature’s nuances. The daughter of a research scientist, Gabriella studied sculpture at New York’s Pratt Institute, learning to make wax models for casting, a technique that now defines her jewelry designs.

Through her renowned jewelry, Gabriella gracefully honors her enduring fascination with nature, with life cycles, with birth and death and the universe in between. Gabriella has an eye for the small and is drawn to detail, deriving inspiration from the flora and fauna of nature and the life cycles of the natural world and art history. The pieces are meant to have a personal meaning to the wearer, beyond adornment.

“By working in a narrative and symbolic language, I want people to respond and interpret their own personal connections to pieces given to them, or that they choose themselves. My forms are both abstract and/or representational – from a distance, my snake necklace looks like a graceful line drawing, yet up close, the identity of a creature is revealed. These elements of surprise and humor are important in a time where irony and cynicism are everywhere, and sincerity is rare.”

You can follow Gabriella on Instagram @gabriellakissjewelry, visit her website

https://gabriellakiss.com/

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

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Season 2 intro Jan 08, 2024

Show notes

On this episode, A thousand facets introduces Season 2 of the podcast and answers some of the questions sent on the Instagram stories.

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Todd Reed Nov 08, 2023

Show notes

A thousand facets sits with Todd Reed, they talk about his beginning in the industry, how mentorship changed his life and how living a life with meaning, thoughtfulness and responsibility is his biggest priority.

About Todd:

Todd Reed is an award-winning American artist and designer whose singular style, incorporating natural and recycled metals, has created an entirely new category of fine jewelry.

Over the course of his 30-year career, Todd’s designs have been featured in books and publications including InStyle, Town and Country, Robb Report, Elle Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. His work has adorned celebrities, royals, politicians, and like-minded collectors worldwide.

You can follow Todd on Instagram @toddreedjewelry , visit his website

https://toddreed.com/

Or if you are in Colorado, visit him at

1911 Pearl St, Boulder, CO 80302

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

https://youtu.be/nKQHjg_E0yE

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East Camp Goods with Jenna Fennell Oct 26, 2023

Show notes

A thousand facets sits with Jenna Fennell from East camp goods and they talked about her education, her beginnings at the Met museum and

how she found her voice!.

About:

Jenna Wainwright Fennell and Andy Fennell, the couple behind East Camp Goods, are metalsmiths based in upstate New York. Jenna is a classically trained goldsmith, who learned the fundamentals of metalsmithing at RISD while an undergraduate at Brown University 20 years ago. Andy is a skilled builder with a BFA in Sculpture from SUNY Purchase, well versed in metal forging at a large and small scale. Their jewelry designs are strongly influenced by their experiences working intimately with objects in the underground workshops of the Metropolitan Museum of Art - as a mount-maker and a crate-builder. Together, they share the creative process in designing and making the East Camp Goods jewelry line, creating bold yet delicate sculptural forms, with a finely tuned balance of scale. Working directly with high karat gold, Jenna and Andy melt, hammer, manipulate, and coax forms into shape from sheet and rod. From chain-making to stone-setting, all steps are performed in-house using old world goldsmithing techniques.

You can follow Jenna Fennell on Instagram @eastcampgoods

or visit her website

https://www.eastcampgoods.com/

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

https://youtu.be/nKQHjg_E0yE

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Ten artists from Goldsmiths' Fair Oct 12, 2023

Show notes

A thousand facets talks with ten artists that participated at the Goldsmiths' Fair, which is her favorite show.

They picked one piece of their collection and talked about their inspiration. MAKE SURE TO SEE THEM ON INSTAGRAM.

About Goldsmiths' Fair

For more than four decades, Goldsmiths’ Fair has brought together a selection of the UK’s best contemporary jewellers and silversmiths. This year’s 136 exhibitors work across disciplines and materials, each achieving distinct techniques and their own style with precious metals. The Fair gives visitors the opportunity to buy directly from makers and to discuss their skills, practices and inspirations, accompanied by a dedicated talks programme and exhibitions.

If you want more information about Goldsmiths' Fair- please visit them at:

https://www.goldsmithsfair.co.uk/

instagram: @goldsmithsfair

Artist's featured on this interview and where to find them:

Emefa Cole

https://emefacole.com/

instagram: @emefacolejewellery

Mirri Damer

https://www.mirridamer.com/

instagram: @mirridamer

Aurelie Dellasanta

https://www.aureliedellasantajewellery.com/

instagram: @aureliedellasanta

Qiang Li

instagram: @MuseLi-Q

Emmeline Hastings

https://www.emmelinehastings.com/

instagram: @emmeline_hastings

Clio Saskia

https://cliosaskia.co.uk/

instagram: @cliosaskia

Bola Lyon

http://www.bolalyon.com/

instagram: @bolalyon

Carola Solcia

https://www.carolasolcia.com/

instagram: @carola.solcia

Megan Brown

https://www.meganbrownjewellery.com/

instagram: @meganbrownjewellery

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

https://youtu.be/nKQHjg_E0yE

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Charlotte Hytting from Facon Facon Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

A thousand facets sits with Charlotte Hytting from Facon Facon, they talked about how she fell in love with jewelry from a very young age. They talked about the process of becoming a goldsmith in Denmark and how she'd rather be on the bench making jewelry than anything else.

ABOUT

Charlotte Christina Hytting, the woman behind Facon Facon, conceptualizes and produces each piece in the collection. She is a goldsmith and a designer; for her, one does not exist without the other.

This return to custom production and hands-on creation is evident in her pieces, which make a statement while retaining a feminine and light quality, perfect for the strong modern woman.

Born, trained and currently working in Copenhagen, Denmark, Charlotte is now positioning the line to break into the US and other international markets.

With names like Skyline, Urban and Revage, the collection draws on architecture and functional design as its inspiration. All pieces are crafted from, 18K gold, containing diamonds and gemstones, evoking a slate sky broken by a ray of sun on a glittering sidewalk.

The simple color palate, innovative design and high quality are all part of the Danish aesthetic that characterizes Facon Facon.

Trained and educated goldsmith, graduated with honor in Copenhagen. Charlotte has a GIA Diamond Grad diploma from studying in New York City.

Now back in Copenhagen with her own Boutique Facon Facon in the center of Copenhagen. From here she makes all pieces by hand.

Charlotte has won several prestigious awards, including a medal of excellence from the Queen of Denmark for her craftsmanship during her apprenticeship (2011), the Danish championship for goldsmiths (2011), and the Nordic championship for goldsmiths (2011).

You can follow Charlotte Hytting on Instagram @faconfaconjewelry

or visit her website -https://www.faconfacon.com/

Visit her Boutique Facon Facon

Grønnegade 26

1107 - Copenhagen

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

https://youtu.be/nKQHjg_E0yE

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Disa Allsopp Sep 14, 2023

Show notes

A thousand facets sits with Disa Allsopp, they talk about her upbringing between Barbados and London. How a trip to Mexico inspired her to pursue the world of jewelry. She talks about how resourcefulness dictated her textures and shapes and the importance of responsibly sourcing the materials for her wonderful work.

About:

Disa Allsopp designs and makes precious jewellery working in 18k gold and sterling silver.

Influences come from her love of ancient jewellery ,forging, reticulation are all some of the techniques used in her pieces. Sketching and drawing are all important stages of designing for me,while creating new pieces.

Designing rings ,earrings, necklaces, are some of the pieces she makes in her London studio. Gemstones are an integral part of her designs such as diamonds, tourmalines, garnets, sapphires, emeralds and many more.

Disa trained in London and Edinburgh and all pieces are handmade.

You can follow Disa Allsopp on Instagram @disaallsopp

or visit her website

https:https://disaallsopp.com/

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

https://youtu.be/nKQHjg_E0yE

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