Congratulations to Christian Rodriguez, who won our Cuff Challenge with her stunning “Reina” design! We had a little chat with Christian to get to know her a little better. Check it out!

Crowd Jewel: Tell us about yourself and how you started designing jewelry. 

Christian Rodriguez: I am a mama, jewelry designer, and smile master :) I used to have a difficult time walking into a shop and finding a piece of jewelry that called to me, so, I decided to create pieces that were unique and spoke to my own style. I have been designing strung jewelry for about a decade and moved onto more elaborate, bead embroidered pieces within the last 4 years. 

I originally began creating strung jewelry, focusing on the healing properties of the gemstones incorporated in my designs. From there I needed to challenge myself a bit more, thus the embroidered works came to be. I draw my inspiration from the gemstone beads themselves.  I have always considered what I do a form of personal therapy, a way of relaxing.  I come from an artistic family, with life and ethnicity that shake the rafters. There is no doubt that my upbringing influenced my drive to create. 

CJ: What was your inspiration for this design?

CR: With this design I wanted something that felt commanding.  I have always thought that cuffs were small masterpieces.  But then something crossed my mind, why does a cuff need to be small?   So, I started creating the form this piece encases.  Some days, I just feel like a warrior and this piece tells that story.

CJ: Who are your style icons?

CR: I have always been inspired by my sister, Jaxie Oo. She is a performance artist, clothing designer, and engages in so many other forms of expression. She just knows how to wear everything. She has such an incredibly unique style and amazing confidence. I also greatly admire Anjelica Huston.  As a tall and powerful woman, I have always found she carried herself with such grace.  And she sure could show off a neckline.

CJ: How would you describe your personal style?

CR: I am quite eclectic with my clothing and jewelry, however, I do love big and bold (as portrayed by my cuff).  I have always been drawn to large ethnic pieces.  I tend to dress how the mood strikes.  Sometimes I can’t see myself in anything other than jeans, a tee, a fedora, and some daring earrings.  Other moments a dress and a knock-out collar I have designed are just what the occasion calls for. 

CJ: What interested you in joining Crowd Jewel and submitting your design to our contest? 

CR: I am usually floating in circles filled with very talented bead embroidery artists, so it was a nice change of pace to have so many different mediums represented.  Crowd Jewel has been a wonderful avenue for other artists and thought it would be inspiring and a great resource.  Since most of my creations have come to fruition with my own wardrobe in mind, it is nice to have others show appreciation as well.  It was fun to join in the contest and read the comments people left.

Sneak Peek! Late night photo session for our website :)

First of all, to everyone who has supported us and taken the time to given us feedback: thank you!

The Crowd Jewel you see today is the result of about a year’s worth of research, thousands in airfare, innumerable meetings, at least 3 major pivots, 1 resuscitation,  and improvements from your suggestions. Over these past few months beginning in January this year, we’ve been amazed and touched by how welcoming the international independent jewelry design community has been of us, our concept, and our humble beginnings. We’ve grown exponentially, and we’re absolutely thrilled about taking the next step: launching the Crowd Jewel website!

You may have seen us discuss the launch here and there on the interwebs (or in personal emails) with a target date of today, but we’ve hit some hiccups in our site development which we believe were significant enough to postpone our beta release for the next few weeks while we fix some of the bugs we’ve recently discovered, and re-test.  

Our small team is working day and night, juggling multiple jobs (we need to eat!), and shelving personal lives to make this dream a reality. So we do hear you and listen to what you have to say. Specifically a few consistent complaints we’ve received will be resolved by running contests and the community on our own website, but there will certainly be more speed bumps down the road as we continue to grow. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… For now, until our site is ready, we’ll continue hosting contests on Facebook, and we kindly ask for your patience during this period. And when we do launch our site, we’d love to hear your constructive feedback.

We’re grateful to the Crowd Jewel community for loving us warts and all, and we’ll continue to work hard to earn it!

xo

Crowd Jewel

Congratulations to Payal Shah, the winner of the Crowd Jewel Chandelier Challenge! We had a little interview with her to get to know her a little better, her designs and her inspirations. Check out our chat below!

Crowd Jewel: Please give us a little background about yourself and how you started designing jewelry. 

Payal Shah:  I have indirectly been around the Jewelry industry for a while. My parents are into diamonds and so I used to go to all the international Jewelry shows in Hong Kong (Around 4 a year) when they used to participate. I used to go to help out and then walk around with my mother. It was a great base to see the most outrageous designs from so many parts of the world. It never really became a passion though. 

I studied Architectural Design at university and worked in an Interior Designer firm when I moved back to Hong Kong. I used to design jewellery for myself for a while and eventually my parents were also looking into expanding so they asked me if I was interested in starting my own collection. I worked on a solid collection for a few months and by May 2011 I had L’ Dezen Jewellery established. My first show was JCK Las Vegas 2011 – where I showcased my designs for the first time. It got a great response and since then the collection and company has been expanding.

CJ: What was your inspiration for this design?

PS: I actually design with the materials I source. I will find interesting diamonds such as rose cuts, fancy and slice diamonds as it has this flat facade that reflects light so gracefully. I enjoy working with irregular shapes and different colored gold too… Overall, I believe my inspiration is architecture and my up bringing. I have a lot of fusion in my designs with very interesting architectural elements. 

CJ: Who are your style icons? 

PS: Firstly my mother - super stylish and always so up to date when it comes to trends! She’s been working and had this corporate woman feel whilst I was growing up to date - so I always look up to her in so many regards. I love Olivia Palermo too - she is definitely up there. Always so graceful and ready to rock any occasion. 

CJ: How would you describe your personal style?

PS: My personal style - is very ME. I love dressing for different occasions as to how I see I can represent the occasion of the theme best. If it’s a Chinese cocktail - I’ll wear a long red Chimsie (Chinese gown) along with emerald earrings. But if I’m walking the streets of New York, a good pair of fitted jeans, a nice coat and scarf with varieties of bangles and rings. I love experimenting and putting different combinations of designs from different cultures together. Again, very fusion. 

CJ: What interested you in joining Crowd Jewel and submitting your design to our contest?

PS: I love sharing - Let it be my views or designs. I travel a lot for the jewelry shows I do around the world - and by sharing what I am doing it’s always easier to keep in touch. Crowd Jewel was a great platform to be amongst other artists from our industry and therefore share our styles. It was also great to see so many lovely supporters out there who loved my earrings. It definitely got some more people awareness of my designs and gives them a good idea of what L’Dezen Jewellery has to offer. All in all, it was very fun too and since I have a great amount of clientele in America - It’s always good to be part of the community back there as much as possible - and this competition was a great base for that!

CJ: Where can we find more of your designs?

PS: You can find me…

L’Dezen website: L’Dezen

My personal website: PayalShahDesigner

Facebook: ldezen

Twitter: @payalia

Pinterest: payalia

LinkedIn: Payal Shah

Google +: Payal Shah

Thanks to everyone who participated in our Valentine’s Contest! And a special thanks to our host, Robyn Hawk.  

We are happy to announce our winners, Michelle Valentin and Mara Friedland, whose designs are now up for sale! Just click on the PayPal links below to check out.

Michelle had the Crowd Favorite with her rose gold leopard earrings.

Mara Friedland won our Sponsor Selection with her garnet and metalwork silver rose necklace. 

Ate all the good candies and these are the ones that are left: cinnamon and conversation hearts. At least they make a cute picture. 

Don’t forget 1 more day till our contest closes! Be sure to vote!

Our Valentine’s Day Competition closes in 2 days! Hurry and Submit your design or Vote for your favorite here!

@#HausofLacquer Via Pretty Project 

Our @#CrowdJewel Valentine’s Day Competition is still going on! Submit or vote here!

Via: Moonlight Beauty’s @#Kat_Travino

(Source: weheartit.com, via lost-moonlight)

At @#CrowdJewel, we’re dreaming big to shake up how traditional business is done so that the spotlight can shine on the best design talent out there: yours.

Like many designers, we know what it’s like to bootstrap while starting a business—the highs and lows, the stress and the incredible feeling accomplishment that rewards those long hours of hard work. 

You inspire what we do, and we hope Crowd Jewel will soon empower you to focus on what you do best: designing and inspiring others. Share this journey with us, join in our competitions and give us your feedback so we can become even better. And… stay tuned, you never know what will happen next!

xoxo

Crowd Jewel

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