Emerging Jewelry Designer Collaborates with Ancient Roman Artisans

Designer Jill Vacarra launches her new jewelry line combining authentic ancient artifacts and artifact replicas with contemporary metals and gemstones. Vacarra's designs strike a balance between the new and old, offering an alluring contrast between the luminosity of precious gems and the rough, earthy textures and shapes of excavated antiquities.

[Los Angeles -- Designer and fine artist, Jill Vacarra, today announced the launch of Anciennes, a unique jewelry collection featuring authentic, one-of-a-kind and replica ancient Roman, Greek, Byzantine and Medieval artifacts combined with modern precious and semi-precious gemstones.

The act of bringing together dissimilar objects in surprising and artistic ways is the basis for my work. My Anciennes jewelry collection is inspired by a passion for jewelry combined with a penchant for assemblage art and a fascination with the ancient world," says the designer.

To create the pieces in this exciting new collection, Vacarra first locates ancient bronze (and occasionally stone, shell and lead) antiquities with intriguing shapes, colors and textures. These artifacts include ancient everyday" objects and fragments such as ancient-style clothespins, tools, money, jewelry fragments, decorative or functional military attachments, handles, rivets and other functional items. Im particularly inspired by the idea that Im collaborating with history, time, the environment and with the ancient metal smiths who first created these objects," says Vacarra.

Vacarra ensures that the original artifacts are left in the state in which they were found; she doesnt remove the natural patina and does not excessively clean or restore the artifacts. Sometimes the artifacts come to me completely encrusted in dirt and then I clean off the dirt-which is actually kind of fun," the designer and would-be archaeologist quips.

With every collection of Anciennes originals, Vacarra chooses several of the most intriguing artifacts, makes molds of them, and creates a series of replicas. The replicas come in 14K yellow and white gold and silver -- all with a matte finish -- and are set with the same brilliant stones Vacarra uses on the original artifacts. Pieces in both the one-of-a-kind and replica collections are set with unexpected gemstones such as Umbra sapphires and fancy natural-colored diamond briolettes.

Anciennes -- loosely translated from the French it means the old ones," explains Ms. Vacarra, I designed the Anciennes collection for people who are intrigued by the mysteries of the past and who appreciate distinctive, fine jewelry. People tell me how evocative and mysterious they find the jewelry," Vacarra says. One customer said, When I touch [the jewelry I have a strong sense of connection to a past that Ive only read about. Its a very visceral experience. I get chills."

To further enhance the thrill of owning jewelry from this collection, each one-of-a-kind piece of artifact jewelry comes with a Certificate of Authenticity-signed by an expert in the field of antiquities--which details each antiquity setting and includes information about materials, date and place of origin, and historical period. Each piece of replica jewelry comes with a written explanation of the archeological origins of the original.

Working with antiquities is an interesting challenge. I spend a fair amount of time looking for gemstones that work well with artifacts of this age and character. Its important that the gems enhance the artifacts without upstaging them. So selecting the right stones was and is paramount to maintaining the integrity and beauty of the artifacts," notes the designer. The beauty of each piece in the Anciennes originals collection is also enhanced by the environmental effects of centuries, even millenniums. Over time, each artifact has been painted and sculpted" with distinctive natural fragmentation, chipping, encrustation, and patina coloring.

The one-of-a-kind originals and the replica line come in three price points. Sterling silver replicas retail from $60 - $160. Gold replica pieces with diamonds or sapphires retail from

$250 - $5000. Populating the current one-of-a-kind collection are pendants and earrings retailing from $500 - $5,000. Vacarra also occasionally designs more opulent pieces priced anywhere from $9,000 - $15,000.

One-of-a-kind and replica jewelry from the Anciennes collection is currently on sale at Valleys Gem in Studio City, California, at A. Mason on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, California and at Two Heads Studios in Pasadena, California. The replica portion of the line in sterling silver will soon be on sale at Gallery of Jewels, San Francisco, California and at Platino on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.

For more information, contact Jill Vacarra Design at +1 (310) 714 0844, or via email: info@jillvacarra.com. www.jillvacarra.com

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