Over four years ago, when I lived in Venice Beach, Rosalie and I met through living at the same bungalows. I spotted her shiny gold earrings that complemented her tanned skin over her friendly neighbor hello’s and the occasional picking up my packages from her doorstep that were delivered to her by mistake. Rosalie and I hit it off and I started wearing her classic Soli Earrings on the daily. This was the first Rosalie Jade Jewelry piece that I added to my jewelry collection that I still wear to this day. Our time in Venice both came to an end and we both ventured north to make Topanga Canyon home around the same time. From here, Topanga Living Cafe dates and Red Rock Canyon hikes turned into dreaming up a fine jewelry collection that neither of us have taken off since creating the sample pieces.
When we started brainstorming a COLOURS x Rosalie Jade collaboration we were incredibly inspired by our surroundings. The simple wonders that make Topanga Canyon, Topanga Canyon. Our pieces are inspired by the eternal bliss found in the winding roads of Topanga Canyon, where the flora-rich mountains meet the sea. This little canyon that we both call home.
Each piece is made out of 14k solid recycled yellow gold. As I’ve transitioned my personal jewelry collection to all fine jewelry over the years it felt timely to bring this collaboration to life. I am elated to offer pieces that can live in your jewelry collection for a lifetime. Jewelry is not made to tarnish and fade but rather become more loved with time and a part of you that you never want to take off. All of our collection pieces are adorned with different colored gemstones representing different hues of the canyon, from orange and pink sapphires inspired by the magic sunrises, to emeralds representing the lush green mountains that we live in.
Rosalie’s approach to creating jewelry celebrates the beauty of the imperfect, no two pieces are alike and all pieces begin with a sketch that turns into a beautiful piece that has a soul, carries emotion and is mindful of the Earth. When you are buying a piece from our collection, you are buying a unique piece that cannot be purchased anywhere else on the planet. You are purchasing pieces that are handmade in small batches, locally, ethically and sustainably in Los Angeles.
Rosalie describes her creation process of using ancient methods beautifully, “When inspiration for a jewelry design pops into my head, I usually start with a messy drawing in my sketchbook or journal. From there, I gameplan how I am going to try and achieve the desired design, and then I sit down to play with wax. I create my jewelry using an organic method where I heat up little bits of wax and then drip the melted bits onto a flat sheet of wax. It’s almost like painting, but with wax. From here, I build up and carve down organic forms to create wax models. Once I have my final wax model, my production team in downtown Los Angeles uses the ancient method of lost wax casting to create a mold of my model and then cast the mold into metal.
Making jewelry using the organic process that I do, I feel my pieces are completely unique to my hand and unique to my soul. Plus, they end up with a look and feel that is noticeably different.”
We have four pieces in our Canyon Collection. The first piece that we dreamed up were the Labyrinth Earrings. The Labyrinth Earrings signify the rock lined spiral paths to bliss that can be found throughout most trails in the canyon. These organic sun spiral charm earrings are adorned with emeralds, meant to bring you to your center.
I, myself, have 13+ earring holes between my two ears and love stacking, mixing and matching different earrings. So I knew I wanted to create more than one earring for our collection. I love that you can wear all earrings as a pair or individually. Our Sunrise Hoops normally sit beautifully next to Labyrinth Earrings in my second hole. These are a classic Rosalie Jade style, called the Organic Chiquita Hoop, our hoop has pink and orange sapphires and emerald detail, made to inspire equanimity as you greet the day. The Sunrise Hoops signify the golden glow of the rising sun over the flora-filled mountain side.
Our little Sweet Pea Studs complement these two earrings so well in my 3rd hole. They are little pink sapphire stud earrings wrapped in gold, meant to sprinkle a touch of sweetness into your world. The Sweet Pea Stud set signifies the stunning pink sweet pea fields found by their magical scent, hidden within the canyon.
Playing off the same design as our Labyrinth Earrings, we created a signet ring, made to be worn on whichever finger that calls to you. The Golden Hour Ring is an organic sun spiral ring adorned with light and dark pink sapphires, made to spark warmth in your everyday life. The ring signifies the hour just before the sun falls behind the mountains, when a warm glow kisses your skin as the sky turns pink.
I had the pleasure of chatting more with Rosalie about her unique ways of living, our collection and her ancient jewelry creation methods. Please enjoy our conversation here.