Jewellery designer Marla Aaron on taking a unique approach to creating customisable pieces, finding her own way in the retail landscape, and why she designs jewellery for every woman
Welcome to the whimsical world of
New York-based jeweller Marla Aaron, who knows accessories are an acquired taste. That's why her one-of-a-kind pieces – perfect for jewellery beginners without looking any less chic – are all about putting the fun in functional. Her pieces are inspired by everything from door latches to toilet roll holders, something that sounds nonsensical in theory but makes perfect sense when you see her pieces and suddenly, literally, everything clicks.
'I have a big cabinet in my office filled with what anyone else would think is junk,' says Aaron, as she runs through the various mechanisms of her signature chains and carabiners on a recent visit to Hong Kong – the push of a gemstone transforms a ring into a locket hiding an engraved message to a loved one, while locks double as charms and charms can be converted into
earrings
Marla Aaron's earring base with stacked lozenges. Photo: Net-a-Porter
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Always full of surprises, both the designer and her trash-to-treasure approach to jewellery-making have proven popular since the launch of her eponymous brand back in 2012. After all, Aaron's modular pieces – designed to be mixed, matched and stacked to spectacular effect – make it easy to reinvent oneself time and time again. Colourful, individualistic and very on brand for New York, the designer's creations make instant classics with vintage quality.
Aaron lets Style in on the haphazard, somewhat chaotic, but always amusing creative process behind her bestselling pieces, available to shop in Hong Kong via e-tailer Net-a-Porter.
This is your first-ever visit to Hong Kong. Does travelling to different places inspire your jewellery pieces?
The design of Marla Aaron's diamond-studded Allstone Trundle Lock ring was inspired by a toilet roll holder. Photo: Net-a-Porter
There are designers that travel and [call] their collection 'Tuscany' or something like that. That's not the way it works for me. It's messy, very focused on the mechanisms – little bits and pieces of hardware and things that ultimately end up as inspiration for something. Let me give you an example – our trundle lock ring. We make it many ways – as a US$500 version that's sterling silver, all the way up to this diamond [version] that's US$18,000. I wanted it to be a ring and a lock, so it opens with this push mechanism, and when I was explaining this to our workshop and how I wanted it to work, we were like, 'How do I convey this?' So I would find household objects. I brought a toilet roll holder from my house and showed them, like, 'This is it.'
Your earrings were inspired by a zip-lining experience with your sons. What about that?
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