'ANACONDA' ArmCuff

// Once again Melosi has been able to capture the beauty which arises out of destruction - the broken, abandoned, and overlooked, a recurrent theme in her work - but this time inspired by family history. 

The LASTCHANCE/LOSTCHILD collection plays with the contrasts inherent in the barren mountain landscape of Butte, Montana, which has been left ravaged by underground and open-pit mining. It embraces raw metal materials of antiqued silver and coppery tones which have been intensified by applying heat to achieve a rainbow effect, in addition to the setting of uncut, locally sourced minerals such as Pyrite and Chalcopyrite.The unique edge of this collection is due to Melosi inheriting her Grandmother’s vast costume jewellery collection, which has provided the core inspiration. “The theme is different from the first three collections. It's inspired by my Grandmother who ..passed and the place in which she lived,” Melosi explains. “Her family came over from Yugoslavia to Butte to work in the mines. It used to be a thriving town at the turn of the century, but now it’s barely a third of its original size and all the mines are shut. The town is dominated by a toxic open mine and the mountainous but barren landscape is dotted with the remnants of all the underground mine shafts. I’ve visited this place often - taking photos, panning for gold and gemstones, and learning its history.” Each piece in the collection is named after one of the region's former mines. //

HANDMADE IN EAST LONDON