SOMA Magazine SOMA Fall Fashion Issue Oct 15 | Page 42

Where do you draw inspiration?
was causing me frustration. Like any artist, I express my feelPatterns, structures, and raw materials. Foundations of buildings, ings through my work. I was thinking about how to alleviate that
networks of spider webs, or just a pile of laundry can inspire me.  frustration, and at about the same time I found the bike chain as

a medium. Bike wheels move only because the bike chain conHow do you choose materials for your art? 
nects them, and the medium explores moving forward, letting
In a way, the material chooses me. Inspired and overwhelmed by go, and moving on. The chain as a material allows the viewer to
all the construction in San Francisco recently, I couldn’t ignore recognize it as the cause of movement, but I placed it in a setting
all the substructures that were creating a new landscape of the where the movement is only a conceptual suggestion.
city. Steel rebar and concrete is in almost every corner. It inspired

me to utilize the qualities of these materials and to create an How has your process and work evolved over time? 
unexpected form, like a handbag, for example.
My process is very intuitive. I don’t do a lot of sketching, measuring, or researching—I outline, estimate and experiment. Moving
What would you say your work is “about”? What message from jewelry making to sculpture was a natural evolution of my
do you try to convey through your art?
work. Even when I was creating jewelry it was never in a “normal”
My work questions the relationship between the body’s inner scale, and it was always very sculptural. Jewelry is considered an
and outer image through layering gestures on canvas and weld- intimate object since it’s something we carry on us, as opposed
ing large-scale sculptural objects. My sculptural collections are to sculpture, which is meant to be appreciated as an indepenintended to challenge the wearer’s perception of beauty, status, dent entity. By exponentially enlarging my work, the object has
and material wealth. Instead of serving to adorn the human fig- claimed its existence.
ure, these pieces begin to consume the wearer, wrapping them
in a sense of security while also confining or trapping them in a What are your aspirations for the future?
hard shell of their exterior facade.
I would like the opportunity to share my concept with people;
inspire them to look beyond what is obvious and see the hidden
One of your more recent collections of accessories, possibility; to unveil or bring into focus all the “social” layering
“RECycled,” explores the act of letting go. How did the idea we do in order to “fit in” or become a person we think people
for this collection come about?
want to associate with. Through that, I want to encourage people
The idea came about from a relationship to a person I had that to be who they genuinely are without any façade—raw.
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