Conversations with Lena Zaric

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lena Zaric.

Hi Lena, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In December 2016, I lost a family heirloom. I lost my grandmother’s ring that I wore on my index finger for 14 years, without EVER taking it off. That ring was very special – 22k yellow gold, Austro-Hungarian coin that was forged into a ring. What makes it even more special is that her lover, a jeweler, gave it to her as a gift. He engraved her initials “AK” on the face-side of the coin. After her death, I inherited the ring and wore it as a symbol of my mother’s lineage and my female ancestry. At the time when I lost the ring, I had this visceral knowing to work on my female lineage and to clear it. I wanted to do the work for myself, my daughters and all the women who came before me and for those who will come after me.

The ring mysteriously slipped off my finger and vanished into thin air. I’ve panicked, cried for days and mourned even longer. Soon after, I’ve commissioned a similar ring to be made by a jeweler. However, to my bewilderment, he did a very poor job. Disappointed and frustrated, I decided to take jewelry classes and make the same ring.

Now, four years later, on this New Moon Solar Eclipse, I found the ring at the bottom of an Ayurvedic massage oil! It was waiting for me there, preserved in the oils and herbs. “How did it end up there?” you will ask. Well, I don’t know. Some things are never to be explained! Miracles do happen when we open our hearts to the vastness of Love. What’s so magical about this experience is that after four hard years, I’ve come to a deeper knowing of what I want to create and how to move forward in my integrity.

Perhaps that’s why the ring came back to me.

I am in awe of my process and so humbled by the divine grace and the magic of the Cosmic dance.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
As true of any artist, my experiences intensely inform my work. I believe this is what makes handmade jewelry meaningful: It carries the history of the maker within it. My history begins in the Balkans, where I grew up in Serbia. I spent my childhood traveling around Europe and absorbing my homeland’s art and architecture, remnants of the Roman and Ottoman Empires. The flowing forms and profound symbolism that surrounded me sparked a lifelong appreciation for art.

After a few years modeling in Milan, I attended The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where I first fell in love with creating physical art forms through sculpting.

But it was not a quick leap into hand-carving jewelry from there.

Instead, I felt pulled to move to New York City. And for 20 years, I made the city my home. New York is as much an influence on me now as my formative experiences in Europe.

It wasn’t until I moved to Los Angeles that I ventured into jewelry design—and Lena Zaric Jewelry was born. But looking back, it feels like all my experiences were leading me right to this place.

My work represents a blend of the spiritual with the aesthetic of the old world, inspired by my “cultural mutt” upbringing and decades of meditative practice.

Today, I live in a small town in North San Diego County with my two teenage daughters, who are my biggest teachers. I am a mother, daughter, lover, poet, yogini and a fellow human who’s dedicated to self-discovery.

I like to say I create with feral alchemy. Feral, like Lilith, who refused to be held back by expectation. And alchemy, a mystical process of making.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I am a strong believer that no one is truly self-taught. We must humbly take ourselves to a teacher and learn as much as we can. When confidence is established, we can develop our own style.

Pricing:

• 250
• 780
• 2500
• 4500

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.lenazaricjewelry.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lenazaricjewelry/

Image Credits:
Ani Barberian Carolina Palmgren