April was a month full of beautiful cosmic connections. Being at the right place at the right time has never been more honest and pure. My soul has gravitated toward incredible people who I am ecstatic to revolve in the same creative space with.
These angels share my platform of reinvention, restyling and repurposing. I believe there is significant value in the act of repurposing. We shop, buy, throw out and devalue items because we’re blind to their resilience and ability to bounce back, recover and start over into something new and beautiful. The same is true for ideas. Someone once told me that there are no new ideas in the world, just reinventions of old ones. What an intelligent, poignant thought dripping with truth, humility and enlightenment. But what we creative minds must do is be patient enough to posses zeal for recycling and repurposing. It takes effort and sometimes it takes silence, which can be painstaking in our zippy world.
Vintage Jewelry designer Kerry Leasure is one of those people who I’m privileged to co-exist with. I happened upon her Here a Chick, There a Chick jewelry booth at a local arts festival.
Her incredible statement necklaces were the magnet for my curiosity. There they were, hanging one by one with such feminine confidence and each telling their own stand-alone story. Their birth was no accident. What they had become was carefully planned. It’s just that Kerry didn’t know it until it they crowned. Some of her pieces voice their own story and other times, the pieces strategically find one another. Their positive energy is the draw. It’s almost like what your soul does when it finds its soulmate. It’s a cosmic connection. You can’t always explain it. You just know. Their meeting isn’t happenstance, its serendipity. If you believe in God, then the results of your faith could be called something different.
“Sometimes I look at my pieces and know immediately what they will become or what I will pair them with,” says Kerry. “More often than not, I lay a huge pile on the table and move things around til they find each other. Like a jigsaw puzzle of colors and shapes. The final story they tell often surprises me.”
Each of Kerry’s pieces begin the same way, as a single glamorous glimmer in a cluster of greatness. Each necklace is crafted from snippets of an era that once was. She collects vintage pieces, estate jewelry, and anything that had a previous life. Kerry then orchestrates their reincarnation, helping them tell a new story. Kerry’s mind is wired with sensible imagery. Her eyes function the same way. She carefully guides this meeting of the minds in her pieces but she’s sensitive and respectful to let them be and not force them together.
“I was an English major in undergrad, so symbolism and literacy themes often emerge,” explains Kerry. “I’m a former kindergarten teacher, so whimsy, humor and light heartedness also come into play. I’m a mother, so nesting, love stories, and family are also themes I visit again and again. The number one rule has been- I have no rules. I love to just see what the day brings. And I love making truly one of a kind, can’t be made again, creations.”
Kerry’s creativity doesn’t stop at her vintage collecting. She can also take remnants of someone else’s history and create an exquisite work of art. If your Grandmother left behind broken brooches, mix- matched antique earrings or even rhinestone shoe buckles, Kerry can weave them into a new heirloom for a wedding, a Friday night or even an everyday accessory.
“Sometimes the story only truly emerges when the person it was meant for sees it for the first time. I will hear an audible gasp and the woman who has fallen in love with it will tell me why that particular symbol they see in the piece strikes so close to home. Whatever I may have thought I created flies out the window when someone finds “their” story,” said Kerry.
I now admittedly stalk the Here A Chick, There a Chick Facebook and Instagram to see what was born overnight. Nearly everyday I’m thumbs-upping and double tapping because I’m in awe of the meaningful, soulful stories staring at me.
I’m committing to purchase a piece a month. I need to talk to my bank account first but I’m sure she’ll say it’s fine. For the love of the outfit and accessorizing, I know she’ll say I have to have them all! Check out a few of my faves below.
