Sunday, October 17, 2010

dEconstructing Kelly Young

When I walked into jewelry designer Kelly Young's apartment I didn't really know what to expect.  I had only met Kelly once when we were at an event at Mohawk.  The time we met, Kelly had a booth set up displaying her jewelry line, dEconstructed dEsign.  I was intrigued by her work so I stuck around her booth for awhile.  Her jewelry had a sign next to it saying "Hand chains. Ask me how these work!"  When your jewelry needs instructions, you know you have an interesting product that is not your average accessory.

But Kelly is probably not your average girl.  I discovered this when I walked into her apartment and discovered a girl with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mask around her head, living in what could have easily been mistaken as a jewelry parts factory.  I am not exaggerating when I say there was jewelry and jewelry pieces everywhere.  This girl loves the process of making jewelry and obviously has a passion for it.  Interestingly, she says she herself does not really wear much jewelry.  When she's not making jewelry Kelly is bartending and she fears most of her jewelry is not appropriate for that job atmosphere.  Wouldn't want to get an arm band caught on a beer tap.



I came to Kelly's apartment because I volunteered myself to help her get some product photos of her new arm pieces.  I was basically Kelly's live mannequin for a night, which I was totally cool with.  It almost makes me feel like maybe I was a doll in a past life.  But  besides just wanting to feed my doll desire to have someone dress me up and take my photo, I volunteered myself because I really like Kelly's work.


Kelly Young is definitely an up and coming designer to watch out for.  Her stuff is quickly starting to pop up in local boutiques around town.  Right now you can find dEcontructed dEsign pieces at Threshold furniture and Feathers.  Check out some more of the photos from our shoot:


You might be interested to know how comfortable these seemingly complicated pieces are.  I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of things clamping my arms or wrists.  I actually have a problem even wearing normal bracelets sometimes, and I usually stay away from fitted long sleeve clothing.  However, these weren't as uncomfortable as I thought they might be.  The arm bling is probably not something you would be able to rock ALL day long, but it definitely would work for a special night where you want to look different and eye catching.


Another important thing to note is that these arm pieces have the ability to be born many different ways to fit different arms.  The chains can wrap around however you would like them to and can clasp onto the band in multiple spots.


Personally I am more of a hand chain girl and would have no problem wearing those for a lengthy period of time.  My favorite piece was the fringy looking hand chain.


To see more dEconstructed dEsign pieces and find out more info, you can click here to go to the online store.



Joanna
keep austin stylish

2 comments:

Mikael Behrens said...

Well-written and interesting -- thanks! I think my favorite is the simple one that looks like bronze leaves across your fingers.

joanna said...

Thanks! Yeah, I like that one too. And bronze jewelry is somewhat hard to find.