The Natural Beauty of Carina’s Creations

"Zillians" - Brazilian Tourmaline

Organic jewelry is commonly referred as jewelry made from once living organisms. For Carina Rossner it means using recycled silver and gold that rests in a natural state after being melted and teaming it with minerals and gems with minor enhancements. The results are one-of-a-kind objects of adornment made of irregular (organic) shapes and forms that exude a rugged beauty. 

"Pink Trio" - Colbalt Calcite

I first met Rossner, who operates under the name Carina’s Creations, early this month at the Gem & Jewelry Exchange show in Tucson, Ariz. I then saw her again just a few days ago at the Buyers Market of American Craft show in Philadelphia (more on that event in the coming days). She hadn’t seen her Palo Alto, Calif., home in weeks—a far different lifestyle for the Harvard graduate who had a successful Silicon Valley career.

"Ocean Storm" - Ocean Jasper

 She does all of the lapidary work and metalsmithing herself in her studios in Palo Alto and nearby Menlo Park. The self-claimed “rock hound” sources her gems and minerals from all over the world, looking for shapes and colors that will transcribe into the types of finished products that define her work. “I don’t use the most ‘precious’ of specimens, preferring instead those that illustrate the physical properties of the mineral or stone,” she said. She then shapes the material into wearable pieces by cutting, trimming, and polishing them.

She has five techniques of melting and creating her organically formed precious metals, which result in several shapes, such as irregular teardrops and wraps.

"Embers" - Spessarite

“The final step is to create a marriage between a particular specimen I have prepared and a silver vessel worthy of its natural beauty,” she said.

Most of the pieces end up as pendants and earrings, but she says she is expanding into brooches and wrist cuffs and is exploring other forms of wearable art.

"Spells" - Chaorite

Oil, Water, Recycled Jewelry, Fashion, Art and Controversy

 

Leave it to the folks of Vogue Italia to create a photo shoot so provocative, compelling, timely and beautiful that the rest of world has little choice but to take notice.

The shoot depicts silver-haired Kristen McMenamy striking poses on an oil-soaked coastline like a dying bird covered in black liquid. The idea, of course, was to imitate the dead and dying oil-covered pelicans that have washed onto the shores of gulf coast since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April. The 24-page cover spread in the August issue was shot by Steven Meisel, who reportedly has a history of creating edgy, environmentally themed photo shoots.

And there’s a jewelry twist. The necklaces and other jewelry pieces that drape McMenamy like black seaweed were created from recycled inner tubes from the Gulf Coast by Kathleen Nowak Tucci of My Sister’s Art.

The cover spread has drawn a lot of controversy in the U.S., most of it negative. But who cares? There will always be the feeble minded and emotionally squeamish who will hide behind the walls of their own prejudices rather than honestly try to understand what is being communicated. 

Tucci, a Gulf Coast resident, on her Web site addressed the controversy as follows: “I do not consider this fashion editorial to be a glamorization of the oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. I thought it was disturbing and thought provoking and utterly fascinating in its interpretation of the struggle for survival. It is controversial and interpretative which is indicative of great artistic expression. I am honored to have my work included in this small way toward the significant artistic vision of Steven Meisel and Karl Templer.”

So enjoy the photographs and a video of the shoot for yourself on the Vogue Italia Web site.

And here’s an opinion I like even though she calls the photo spread, “dreadfully ugly.”