Carrie K.

Two weekends ago, I decided to visit Carrie K. Atelier, in my search for the ever elusive wishbone necklace I was so crazy about in my previous blog entry about jewelry (if you miss it, you can read about it here: http://foreveerr29.blogspot.sg/2013/04/jewelry.html)

Her workshop is located on Upper Bukit Timah Road, and is tucked away in a small row of shophouses which houses many quirky shops. 

As we stepped in, a nice and cool backyard garden with a pretty frangipani tree welcomed us, and instantly we were transported to an artsy shop where you might spot in Australia, along the beach maybe. 

 As we walked into the shop itself, we were welcomed by not one, two but three lovely dogs who were super friendly and adorable! We found ourselves surrounded by mannequins sporting fabulous and exquisite pieces of jewelry, and even a sign-in book with cute lollipops on a stack of books.

And we had the honor of meeting Carrie K herself, and she was super friendly and shared with us her journey in the jewelry making business to date. 

Her story of how she became a silversmith was straight out of a hollywood movie. She was originally in advertising, and decided to take a one year sabbatical in Florence, to figure out what she wanted to do in life. She started going for jewelry making classes at a silversmith shop outside of Florence, and when she finally made her first ring (this was apparently under a windowpane that shone sunlight upon her ring as she raised it to admire it in the light), she decided that she wanted to be a silversmith.

And the rest was history. Currently, she is expanding her business internationally, making plans to export them to Korea, Australia and several other countries.

This is the collection she showed at the recent Paris Fashion Week, and to those who knows fashion, Paris Fashion Week is uh, kinda a big deal. :P

I especially love this collection, where the shiny element of silver is showcased in these delicate and exquisite folds of jewelry. Love it.

And this is her workstation, where she crafts every piece lovingly.

This is one of her signature bangles, where she treats leather in a variety of colors and offers different colors per season (about 5). She had a customer who has more than 10 of these in different colors! If you hold it in real life, you know that it is very beautifully crafted, and feels solid and definitely feels expensive.

 I like her earrings which she fashioned from safety pins as well. The folds of the pins just showcases the precious metal nicely.

I love this cuff because it has an interesting shape which is really elegant to me. And the fact that you can wear it anywhere, paired with the right clothes.

Carrie K's new collection showcases these "mettle" pieces which looks like heavy metal but are in fact leather which is treated to look like metal. She stresses that she wants her jewelry to be light and wearable, and I think this idea of treated leather is super interesting!

Finally, a shot with the artist. We had a whooping great time, and I would love to have a piece of every of her jewelry!

You can find her at http://www.carriekrocks.com/CarrieK/Default.aspx

xoxo,
Keira