I was born in Paris, and raised in Asia and America. Growing up, our house was filled with an eclectic mix of curiosities and collectables. As long as I remember, I was fascinated by the beauty and mystery of these objects and by the people who created them.

When I was 19, I volunteered to work on a conservation and environmental project in the rain forest in Costa Rica. Its aim was to provide a wider economic basis for the area and employment for the local community in order to create a more genuine sustainable ecotourism.

I ended up working in the country much longer than I had planned; nearly 3 years instead of 3 months. It is also there I met street artists, creating beautifully handcrafted jewellery for the first time.

This amazing experience opened my eyes to sustainable development and I suppose it was then that both my love for our natural environment and for this craft was born.

I started a career in the travel industry, but after some years, I realized that exercising my creativity and creating a sense of beauty of my own was what meant the most to me.

This is how it all started…

I now live in London with my husband and two little boys.

The creative process…

The process is quite spontaneous and organic, everything comes from feeling.

My work is eclectic, very instinctive and experimental, trial and error are an integral part of the creating process…

I am a self-taught jewellery designer. I sketch but most of the times ideas come up when I’m at the bench. I will make a ring or an earring and from there the other pieces of the collection just come together naturally…

Essential to me is the authentic approach, the connection in the creative process, the very intimate relationship I have with each piece I create infuses meaning into my work. I believe things made slowly are more genuine, more intimate.

With ethics and sustainability as a core value, the metals I choose to work with are all recycled or from Fairtrade origin as much as possible. The stones and other vintage or upcycled elements have been carefully selected and ethically sourced.

While inspired by my travels and anything beautiful really, I am also influenced by diverse ancient cultural heritages. Ancient jewellery, archeology or the anthropology of jewellery interests me a lot too, how a piece holds multiple meaning across cultures through time and space.

My little talismans like the cicada, lion head, evil eye, horn, are all little emblems of protection or empowerment that reflect this cultural resonance.

Other times, I come across an original artefact, a vintage element, be it an old coin, a vintage casino chip, a roman bronze fragment, or a stone which triggers my inspiration and I know that I must construct a piece around it. I love the idea of giving a second life to an object that was never intended to be worn as a body adornment.

Finally, each piece is made by me in my home studio, one at a time, with patience, respect and love, because I believe that authentic creation requires integrity in the approach, and personal commitment in the work itself.

Today more than ever, we realize that everything we do has an impact on our fragile environment, and this requires from us, even in a symbolic way, a new sense of responsibility.

‘Our world is our home and we are our choices’

Thanks for your visit and supporting the movement!

Take care,

Aliénor Fratoni.