Designer Spotlight: Gabriela Artigas
Ten years ago, Gabriela Artigas fell into jewelry by happy accident. Then 20 and a student in textile design in Mexico City, she’d fashioned, by request, a necklace for her mom to wear to a wedding. It was both casual and a little “wild,” she remembers, and yet the contrasts worked: During a family trip to Los Angeles, Gabriela and her mother were shopping at Maxfield when someone asked to buy the piece right off Mom’s neck.
And so began a career. Gabriela moved to L.A. not long after, and launched her line; later, her sister Tere joined as design collaborator and general partner in crime. Though the sisters’ pieces have evolved over the last decade—from big and bold to more delicate and refined—the emphasis on contrasts remains, with the help of unexpected combinations of interesting materials like ebony, amber, mother of pearl, coral, leather, and silk. Everything in the collection is a reminder of either their original hometown of Mexico City, or their new one, L.A., and each piece is handcrafted in one city or the other. And though the sisters have purposefully kept production small, such irresistible pieces always leave us wanting more—in the best possible way.
Why we Covet: I met Gaby and Tere nearly ten years ago when Gabriela Artigas was first launched. The jewelry was as beautiful then as it is now, and that sort of longevity is hard to come by. It is one of my favorite lines, and the sisters are two of my favorite people working in fashion. Arrives at Covet + Lou: November 2013.