At a time when bolder shapes and colors are poised to show the delicate and overly precious a thing or two, Portland-based jewelry designer Alisha Alderman’s graphic takes on Art Nouveau and Deco forms are intriguing.
Alderman’s most recent collection was introduced in July of this year, right about the time she was preparing to move to Portland for love after nearly a decade in Seattle.
She’d studied at Seattle’s Pratt Fine Arts Center and had done jewelry production work for a couple of years for Seattle designers including Kimberly Baker. “If there’s one thing you learn from doing production, it’s that you learn to be fast which is absolutely necessary if you’re going to do your own line.” Alderman launched her line, Alisha Louise, launched in 2005.
Currently, she’s working out of her house, doing all of her own production, working to get her line into more shops and minds. We asked what led up to this collection. “Around the end of summer I started reading a lot of my favorite book, stuff set in 20s (and even earlier to turn of the century). Then I just found myself for hours in Powell’s looking at design books.”
The result is a mix of Deco and Nouveau, “but I wanted to make it modern, give it a clean silhouette rather than filigree and minute detail,” she says.
We asked her what’s next. “I want to develop more of the handpainted pieces, smaller shapes that I can put together. I’d also like to do casting.” Find Alisha Louise at Seaplane, Imelda’s on SE Hawthorne and Le Train Bleu.
Through the holidays, Alderman is offering a 20% off discount to ultra’s visitors. The discount code is gooddeals07 and can be entered at checkout.
a look from an earlier Alisha Louise collection
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