How Botanical & Stone Came to Be
Botanical & Stone began with a design question: could something be created with the visual richness of cloisonné, without using enamel and wire? Could it be built to last, the way cloisonné endures? That question led to an exploration of polymer clay as a foundation for fine jewelry, moving materials, form, and construction in a different direction, joining illustration and color work with stone fabrication and sterling silver settings.
Cloisonné traditionally builds pattern and color through enamel set within metal wirework. Polymer clay offered a different path — pattern, color, and dimension built directly into the material, without wire or enamel.
The goal was not to recreate an existing tradition, but to discover what could emerge through an original approach to materials and construction. Experimentation led from one design challenge to the next. Each solution introduced new questions, and each answer moved the work further, eventually shaping the first collection.
The Design Challenges That Shaped the Collection
Development of the pattern system began with favorite motifs drawn since adolescence: flowers, spirals, and organic forms. Those drawings became the basis for the botanical patterns used throughout the collection, tested and refined across many iterations before the current pattern language took shape.
The Stone elements addressed a separate design challenge: focal points that could integrate with the patterned surfaces. This required control over the size, shape, and color of each element, along with a material approach distinct from sourced gemstones or enamel work.
The final construction combines these polymer elements with sterling silver, hand fabricated using complex cold soldering techniques. Each piece is built to be worn and passed down, not mass-produced or replicated.
What Defines Botanical & Stone
Botanical & Stone is fine jewelry built around original materials and botanical patterns accented with fabricated stones surrounded by cold soldered sculptured sterling silver elements. The collection joins fine craft, contemporary design, and fine jewelry through a process of investigation and refinement, rather than beginning with existing expectations of materials or forms.
The Beginning of a Design House
Botanical & Stone is the first collection from the design house, and the foundation for what follows. Core designs will continue to evolve, and new forms, materials, and collections will expand the design language over time.