“The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him.” � Rodin
It’s not surprising that jewelry designer Hazel Cox names nature as the supreme influence of her pieces. Not only are the materials she uses usually of the earth–pyrite, black coral, quartz, feathers–but the structural quality of the pieces are reminiscent of nature as well. When ultra visited her studio on E. Burnside (which is in Denwave, the store she co-owns with Genevieve Dellinger), she was working on intricate pieces made from crocheting wire that took on organic shapes that were a mimesis of flowers, roots. “I love the way roots intertwine with each other,” she says, knotting her fingers together to demonstrate. The idea of intertwining seems extremely prevalent to her. When asked about her design process, she says “All the pieces I make are intertwined. They roll off one another, all attached, all consecutive.” She pauses before exclaiming, “I’ve been making one long necklace for the past 10 years!”
And what a beautiful, evolving necklace it is. Just having returned from a trip to Turkey and Greece, she says she is now drawn to gold as those countries were covered in that color. She also is making a shift into using stones in the color black. “I avoided it in the past because I felt people expected it from me. I want to use it now because I don’t want color to dictate the necklace. Look at this,” she says, holding up a necklace with a long strand covered in different shades of pink baubles. “This is all about the color. If I used black, it would be about the shape, the abstract silhouette, the space around it.” These are kinds of ideas that continually push the jewelry forward. She is always seeking new materials and new methods. Her chains change in color due to an oxidation process she puts them through; she has created her own chain in the past, painstakingly attaching link to link; she is constantly challenging her materials and her techniques, yet is always faithful to her aesthetic.
“I use design to express natural environment, to capture that moment in time. I don’t think my jewelry is precious due to of the rarity of the stone, but because of piece’s singularity, because it was made in a specific season when I was in a specific mood and that can’t be replicated. ” This aspect of Hazel’s jewelry, that it is never precious (in a pejorative sense of the word), makes it so special and intriguing. It never wants to be put away in safe or jewelry box, never is unworn out of fear of it breaking or being stolen. It has a wearable quality that is important to Hazel and is a large part of her craft. She holds up an unfinished crocheted wire laced with gold beads that is beautiful but, “can’t be worn! It’ll get tangled in clothing or get too easily crushed. I have to figure out how to use it.”
It is this formula–clever and beautiful pieces + wearability–that makes her jewelry so utterly successful. You want to wear it every day, and you can. Hazel also likes to juxtapose different elements to create her unique style. “I want it to seem from another time, from the past and from the future,” she says. “I want combine the unexpected tacky thing with the classic.” This is another point of success: the appeal of her jewelry is across the board, not only between types of people with different styles, but also between genders. Case-in-point: one ultra contributor routinely complains that her boyfriend constantly steals her Hazel Cox necklace to wear himself.
Hazel is currently working on creating a line of accessories, starting with bags and belts, for both men and women. Of course, it will exude her own quirky aesthetic and concept. “I want people to wear one of the new accessories as if it were a piece of jewelry.”
Find her pieces at Denwave (811 E Burnside), Herringbone in Berkeley and Lucca in Seattle.
–Patricia No
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