Image credits, clockwise starting top left: Hubble Space Telescope photo of part of Sagittarius, ESA/Hubble & NASA; Fashion editorial from 2017, source unknown; Comet illustration by Lyn Ward; “Winter Full Moon” engraving, Johannes Hevelius; Cast cairn in brass, Cast Cairn in brass, Joseph Magliaro; “Moon Dust (Apollo 17)” installation, Spencer Finch.
Two years ago I saw a photo (the top left one, actually) taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and became immediately obsessed. It shows stars in a rainbow of colors, sparkling against the deep black of space. That image immediately made me want to recreate it, using colorful semi-precious stones against a dark metal background.
And then I fell down a rabbit hole of space photography, space-inspired fashion spreads, and Galileo's original drawings of constellations (I'm not sure I'm fully out of it yet). Sketches came together fast, and before I knew it I was carving (and re-carving, and re-carving again) shapes out of wax, testing out different stone colors, and setting mini constellations into all new pieces.
If you haven’t seen the new Starscape Collection yet, check it out here — I’d love to know if you can see how the inspiration became the finished jewelry!