Fresh Faces: Ludevine

Jewelry designer Shahla Kareen wants to adorn you

What inspired this collection?
The pieces I've made are inspired primarily by 3 distinct elements.

1. The materials used. Fossils, bear molars, sea horses etc. are all objects of which I connect very deeply too. French ethnologist Lucien Levy-Bruhl calls it "Mystical Participation." Sounds kind of hokey but we all have some object or animal we feel a very drawn to on a primitive level. Many of the pieces I've made are in homage to those for me.

2. Symbology and Theology; while creating these pieces, my mind was often left to wander about perspectives on conscious and subconscious living which presented themselves in my work through the reinterpreted infinity and flash symbol.

3. Adorning the female form in its intimate state. Nothing is more sensual than knowing you've got gold and diamonds delicately draped around your body under your clothes... Mine never comes off. I sleep and shower in it. It’s meant to become a part of you.

Is there a certain girl who embodies this collection?
A goddess. If I were to describe the woman who wears my work I would say she has a strong sense of her deeper self. Someone who is less about trends and more about how she is affected and personalizes by pieces she chooses.

Can you explain your design process?
I don't have a specific process. Each design was born differently. Some I saw the moment I first laid eyes on the object it’s built around, others I sculpted out of wax or clay first and then modified till it came to be what it is.

I will draw a lot. I work from my studio but focus on paintings mainly in that space. The sketches will often take place randomly, in bed after reading something that provoked a new idea, on a train, in a cafe. I keep blank paper by my bed always incase I wake up and feel urged to note a concept of phrase or anything from my dreams. Continual conceptualizing is the only consistency I guess...

Did you listen to any specific albums while working on this collection?
Timber Timbre, Billy Bragg, Bauhaus, Grand National, Pixies....

Three things you can’t live without?
Air, Water and My Love.

Learn more about Shahla's collection at ludevine.com and view more Fresh Faces LA photos here.