Quicksilver. Soft, liquid, natural. The jewelry by Leigh Miller is different from others. And they don’t cost much either. Everything was born (and continues) from her passion for sculpture. But that comes later. Originally from Santa Monica, a seaside town near Los Angeles, the designer graduated in fashion design from Otis College of Art and Design in the big Californian city. Then, she moved to New York, where she worked for some designers in the fashion industry. But without the creative outlet she imagined. About ten years ago she started thinking about what else she could do.
In the meantime she was engaged to a Brazilian and moved to Rio, where she attended the Atelier Mourao, a school founded in the sixties by the jeweler Caio Mourao. The jewelry, in reality, is a compromise. In the heart of Leigh Miller there is sculpture, a road, however, too uncertain. Better, therefore, to create small sculptures, but which can be sold immediately.
For her jewels she uses the lost wax casting technique, but with a personal style: she heats the wax, melts it and pours it on a surface, to obtain the shapes she wants. But she, she says, it is always up to the moon and the stars to decide how to melt the wax. She is also inspired by natural forms, such as a variety of marine stones. But without forgetting sculpture stars such as Jean Arp, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. The jewelry is made from partially recycled sterling silver.
