The Designer Bringing Whimsy, and Magic Mushrooms, to Fine Jewelry

Combining psychedelic motifs with precious stones, Brent Neale Winston is redefining the limits of her craft Aug 7, 2019.When the New York jeweler Brent Neale Winston titled her debut fine jewelry collection After the Rain, it was an emotional response to what she calls "a really bad year." During months of prescribed bed rest while pregnant with her twin daughters, Winston had channeled her energy into the research and development of a new line of jewelry, resulting in cheery rainbow, cloud and unicorn shapes in pastel semiprecious stones Winston, 38, traces her passion for fine jewelry to her childhood visits to the vintage markets and gem fairs outside of Washington, DC.

On one particularly memorable trip in high school, she recalls becoming "Mesmerized by a strand of rubies." Winston's mother noticed her marveling at the display's glittering contents and encouraged her to experiment with beads Winston earned her bachelor's degree in political science from Johns Hopkins University and later returned to school to concentrate on her craft, completing the jewelry design program at Manhattan's Fashion Institute of Technology in 2008 Under the tutelage of the late Maurice Galli - the onetime head jeweler at Harry Winston who famously reset the Smithsonian's Hope diamond - Winston was determined to underwrite her personal design vocabulary with the technical knowledge of the trade.

"I learned mechanical drafting and computer-aided design, how to carve a wax, set a stone - everything a bench jeweler would do." During her studies, Winston interned for the jewelry designer and gemologist Kara Ross, another proponent of brightly colored stones; that experience became a full-time job and began an eight-year deep dive into the commercial realities of the industry, as Winston handled product development for everything from costume jewelry and sterling silver to one-of-a-kind commissions "There is always nostalgia and a sense of humor woven through all of my collections," says Winston, whose first creation for her eponymous line was a rainbow-shaped ring studded with citrine, blue topaz, amethyst and pink tourmaline baguettes accented by an opal "Cloud." With its playful use of precious - and expensive - stones in a cheekily naïve form, that design has set the tone for her prolific output ever since: multicolored gemstone hearts, glittering stars, cartoonish "Magic mushrooms," and even a malachite "Cannabis-leaf" tiara. . Source