Echo Park-based jewelry designer Kristen Levy got her first taste of design while learning Native American beadwork at the age of 10.
Exploring the jewelry boxes of her mother and grandmother, she would rework broken jewelry into pieces for herself.
This passion carried through into adulthood where she began designing her unique jewelry out of found and forgotten materials.
For her current look, Kristen draws inspiration from indigenous reverie.
“When designing my collection,” says Kristen “I always imagine a Native American princess daydreaming of living in another era.”
Honoring the North American and African Porcupine, Kristen uses their quills to create some of her signature pieces. Porcupines shed their quills naturally, like hair, which are then carefully gathered and cleaned, leaving the animals completely unharmed.
Porcupines and their quills represent trust, innocence, invincibility, intelligence, and are symbols of protection from dark spirits.