I met Luana Coonen in Braşov, a small town in Transylvania, Romania. She was travelling with her friend Kit, and I hung out with these two childhood friends from Hawaii on our travels around Romania. We had a pretty rad time, even when we missed the train to Cluj-Napoca because we went to an abandoned train station instead of the operational one in the middle of town (heh). I lost all of my photos from Romania, unfortunately.
(Click photos to go directly to the item’s Etsy listing.)
Lichen encasement hoops
Large leaf encasement hoops
Lu is an experienced silvermsmith and jewellery maker, and takes inspiration for her designs from nature. She collects lichen, butterfly wings, shedded snake skin and other materials on her wanders, enclosing them in clear polycarbonate to make striking and unique pieces. All her jewellery is made by hand, and the delicate designs cut into silver are all hand-sawed.
Large morpho encasement hoops
Mini 14k gold heart and key charm necklace
Sterling-silver hand-sawed lightning hoops
The wasps enclosed in a clear bangle is one of my favourite pieces of hers, as are her newly-finished sterling silver hand-sawed heart hoops.
Wasp encasement bangle
Sterling silver hand-sawed heart hoops
You can see more of her beautiful creations at Luana Coonen Jewelry and also check out her Etsy store (where all pictured jewellery can be purchased at the time I am posting this). She currently has a 20% off sale until the end of Monday Dec 2nd (American time)!
We went to Bran castle; unfortunately I lost all of my DSLR photo from Romania
x Kitten of Doom
