Odette Jewelry: From Sketches to the Steven Alan Showroom

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Welcome to Open Studio, a Racked feature where we explore the workspaces and showrooms of some of the city's most talented designers.

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• We have a large skylight in our workspace, so the natural light is really beautiful and changes throughout the day.
• The Ojos cuff in recycled brass, $165
• We've been in this studio space for four years. Our studio is in an old building that used to house horse carriages at the turn of the last century. An artist couple owns the building and built beautiful studios surrounding a courtyard garden.
• Klaia Cage Cuff in brass, $185
• Small Amuletum necklace in recycled brass with a sterling silver chain, $98
• We pinned our favorite lookbook images from the past few seasons to the wall. These two were photographed by Tamara Schlesinger (fall/winter 2013) and John Molloy (fall/winter 2014).
• Versions of the Arrow ring. From left: Recycled brass ($75); 14k yellow gold with diamonds ($520); and
• My friend Re Jin Lee of Bailey Doesn't Bark makes these beautiful ceramic domes that we use to display our 14k stud earrings at the studio and the showroom.
• I live in Williamsburg and work in Greenpoint, so the commute is an easy walk across the park. My favorite thing about working here is being surrounded by my talented friends and neighbors, all of whom are making and doing interesting things. There are je
• Our moodboard is something we’re constantly updating with lookbook images and inspiration for collections we're currently working on.
• I have several eye pieces in my collection, so my assistant Kyra brought this glass evil eye back for me from a recent trip to Greece.
• The Open Hands rings in recycled brass and recycled sterling silver
• I like working with brass because it really frees me up to experiment and play with scale within the design. Brass also develops a beautiful patina over time. And I always love working with 14k yellow and rose gold. The scale is generally much smaller and
• The Tiny Triangle ring in 14k gold and black diamond, $240
• I carve all of the original designs out of wax at our studio in Greenpoint. We then work with a small casting house in Manhattan to have molds made and the wax cast into metal.
• The Arrow cuff in recycled brass ($98) and sterling silver, $172
• This is the wax version of our new Stacked Lover's Knot Cuff for fall/winter 2014.
• One of us is appointed DJ of the day to pick the station. Lately, we’ve been alternating between the Lana Del Ray, Neil Young, Julee Cruise, Fleet Foxes, Lorde, and Weezer stations.
• My father used to do leather tooling in the '70s, and he recently handed down his old tools, including this set of leather stamps.
• Here's our messy bench filled with unfinished projects.
• Crater Cuff in recycled brass, $195
• At the end of the day, I go home and play with my baby for a while and get him ready for bedtime. Then a glass of rosé.

Photos by Driely S.

Jennifer Sarkilahti, the founder and designer behind the Brooklyn-based jewelry brand Odette, has a Master of Fine Arts in Painting, so it makes sense that she treats each and every ring, necklace, bracelet and set of earrings like a tiny masterpiece. Her technique involves sketching and then sculpting each design in wax and casting it in materials like brass, gold, and sterling silver.

From there, they're off to stores like Steven Alan, Reformation, Catbird, and Otte and into the hands of cool girls who appreciate organic shapes and symbols like evil eyes, open triangles, twisted knots, arrows, and hamsas.

"I pull a lot of inspiration from my travels," Jennifer explains. "In the past few years, our collections have been inspired by trips to Greece, Bali, Turkey, California, Hawaii, and New Zealand. I also spend time flipping through art and textile books and looking at ancient artifacts at the Met Museum." Take a look inside her studio after the jump.

· Odette [Official Site]
· All Open Studio Posts [Racked NY]