As students at an incredible art and design university we have an unbelievable opportunity to work with students from hundreds of different fields. Never again will we have this level of creativity, passion, and resources at our disposal.  Working with other artists and designers opens us up to new ideas and processes as well as enriches the project as a whole. Hargrove says, “Most people usually think and work along the lines of a single frame of reference. Creativity occurs when people are able to connect different frames of reference in ways that results in creating or discovering something new...think about how much greater the possibility for creative, high leverage, catalytic ideas exist when many minds, or an extraordinary combination of people, are brought together through the shared context of a dialogue around a common goal or problem (Hargrove, 5).” Throughout my educational career I have attempted to capitalize on this at every possible opportunity, and since the first quarter of my freshman year, my close friend and I have been looking forward to our final collaboration. 

 

My part in this collaboration with Angelique was to create four one-of-a-kind fashion jewelry pieces for her collection.  Since she has been developing her concept from the beginning of the school year, her input was key in designing pieces that fit with her collection and accented the clothing.  Angelique’s inspiration for her senior collection was the larger than life Brazilian icon, Carmen Miranda... otherwise known as “The Lady in the Tutti Fruity Hat.” Miranda was known for her playful personality, extravagant costumes, and catchy music.  She embodied the traditional Latin American woman with her natural charisma and unabashed sensuality. Wearing traditional female Latin American dress, Miranda eventually became known all over the world as the “Brazilian Bombshell”. Her costumes were eye catching and over-the-top with a lot of color, embellishments, and a hint of skin.  These elements can be seen in Angelique’s collection, Pulp, through her prints that were designed using kaleidoscope patterns of different fruits, the full silhouettes, and her use of cut outs. During our conversations, Angelique explained to me that she wanted oversized, colorful, and funky fruit inspired jewelry with a subtle street vibe.  Over the course of a few weeks, Angelique and I narrowed down my sketches choosing the four pieces that best captured the essence of her collection and one piece that I would later make as a distilled version of this collection. Although each of her patterns are made from a different fruit, it became clear that shape of an orange slice was the easiest to manipulate and arrange in a way that worked aesthetically for jewelry.  With my designs approved I had to quickly begin producing two necklaces, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings, without much time to plan.