Today we’d like to introduce you to Carmen Kelly.
Hi Carmen, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My interest in jewelry snuck up on me during my last semester at the Rhode Island School of Design. During the pandemic, I started practicing automatic drawing, an intuition-led drawing method. Through this process, I started exploring abstract forms that shared a sinuous, astral language. They lived in my sketchbook for months. I had no plans for them until I started working in ceramics during my last semester where I found that clay lent itself to sculpting these forms in the physical. I was studying industrial design and working mainly in wood and metal, both very rigid materials that usually required machinery to manipulate. The fluidity of the clay allowed me to flow with the medium rather than premeditate. Around this time, a friend gave me a silver casting demo which inspired me to sculpt a couple of pendants. I took them to a foundry in Providence and had them cast in silver. When I got the pieces back in their rough and unpolished form, I knew there was something there. They felt robust and grounding to hold. I showed them to a couple of close friends and they encouraged me to try selling them.
After graduation, I moved back home to LA and found a jeweler to cast my pendants. Then I would polish and assemble the necklaces in my childhood bedroom turned studio. I shared my first two designs on Instagram to gauge interest and a couple of dozen orders came in from friends and friends of friends. It was very exciting because I’d never designed anything to be worn and I loved seeing the pieces on people out in the world. When I saw how the pendants resonated with others, it really motivated me to dive in and design my first collection. I named the project California Dirt. That was my social media handle at the time, and it sounded right because the whole concept was born through the use of clay, a key ingredient in living soil. I shared my first collection in February of 2022 and have since released two others.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
California Dirt continues to teach me what comes easily and what forces me to change my thinking and pedal harder. Right now, I’m working independently, apart from the casting house that fabricates my pieces. So it sometimes feels like there’s a ton of next steps and only one of me to get them done but that’s not a bad thing. Working solo gives me a birds-eye view of what’s going on and a better understanding of every moving part. Don’t get me wrong, the learning curve is sometimes steep. I’m still learning how to keep a solid foot in every area of the brand including design, production, marketing, social media, order fulfillment, etc. What I struggle with most is balancing the whimsical with the practical and being patient with myself. By that, I mean admitting that I’m new at a lot of this and that building a business takes trial and error and time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I was exposed to a lot of different mediums at RISD, but jewelry was something that I jumped into with virtually no background or training. And honestly, I don’t know if I could call it a specialty quite yet since my technical skills are still evolving. Jewelry is certainly the focal point of California Dirt, but it also allows me to explore my other interests, like creative direction, illustration, photography, and ceramics. Creating the right imagery for the brand is critical in bringing the work to life. Creating context and narratives that draw people in is one of my favorite parts of the process. I take a lot of the product shots myself and work closely with other photographers, including Dillon Matthew, who shot my last two collections. His shots are striking pieces of work in and of themselves and his collaboration is a huge part of California Dirt’s visual identity. I’m excited to see how that imagery evolves along with my future collections.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I spent my senior year basically quarantined on campus at RISD. During that period I started drawing for pleasure for the first time in a long time. As I mentioned earlier, that’s when I started automatic drawing and eventually arrived at the language that now characterizes California Dirt. Looking back, this project definitely arose from a time of solitude and searching and for that I’m grateful.
Pricing:
- California Dirt’s prices reflect the cost of having quality pieces crafted locally and in small batches in the Jewelry District of Downtown LA.
- All pieces are made out of 925 Sterling Silver or 14k gold.
- Gold-plated and vermeil options for some styles will be available in early 2023 to offer more affordable alternatives to solid gold.
- Anyone can receive 10% off their first order if they send in an automatic drawing to add to the community archive on californiadirt.xyz.
Contact Info:
- Website: californiadirt.xyz
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/california_dirt/?hl=en
Image Credits
Carmen Kelly Vivian Kim Dillon Matthew
