How cool is Michelle Obama? Did you know that she wore a pair of handmade diamond jeweled earrings and bracelets at the inaugural ball? Feast your eyes on those earrings, designed by Kimberly McDonald.
Irregular geode-outline earrings with natural yellow rose-cut diamonds.
The irregular shapes in the earrings are meant to be geodes. Geodes are formations that build up over time in spaces between rocks. They often contain a quartz shell lined with minerals that eventually form crystals. So, when you look at the irregular shapes of these earrings, you see a reminder of a natural phenomenom.
The photo below, taken from McDonald's Facebook page, shows the inside layers of hundreds of geodes. You can imagine how a whole geode fills the cavity between two rocks.
Here are several more pairs of beautiful earrings made by Kimberly McDonald.
McDonald, who lives and works in New York City, combines natural materials such as agates and geodes with untreated stones such as diamonds, raw emeralds, and baroque pearls. What a 'brilliant' approach! These earrings are electric.
This kind of beauty doesn't come cheap. McDonald's jewelry ranges from $1,800 to over $100,000.
McDonald's bio says she's committed to using an eco-friendly aproached by using reclaimed gold and wood as well as recycled diamonds and other precious stones. As she explains, “I like to think of each creation is an extension of what nature has given us."
I love the irregularity of these earrings, which gives them a bit of funk -- each pair doesn't match perfectly, but that's what makes them so interesting.
I'm glad that Michelle Obama has such sophisticated taste. Just as she has done in the past wearing the work of 'emerging' fashion designers like Jason Wu and making him famous, she has made the world aware of another young designer's work, this time Kimberly McDonald.
See more at Kimberly McDonald.
Wow, those are awesome, I love geodes!
Posted by: Honeysquilling.wordpress.com | January 30, 2013 at 04:23 AM