Priscilla is the owner, head designer, and maker at Joyarte, a high-end jewelry couture brand. Priscilla’s one-of-a-kind pieces are influenced by her love of dance, music and choreography. Some of her work has been featured on the red carpet at the Oscar’s, Fashion Week in New York, Boston, Seattle, and San Antonio, and Project Runway: Under the Gunn. Priscilla is currently nominated for San Antonio’s Fashion Awards Jewelry/Accessories of the Year award and has won the Rising Star award.
When the Limatus design team and I were brainstorming about details that were possible in the suit design, I knew I wanted a print on the inside of the jacket and the lapel. Looking at the fabric options the large printed paisley caught my eye. I use a lot of negative open space in my jewelry work, and the soft elegant shape of the paisley is one that I use often. I don?t think I had even designed the jewelry collection yet before we started on the suit, so coming across the paisley print seemed a definite way to go.
Color also played a big role in the collaboration. I love color and I wanted the suit and the jewelry to bold with lots of pop. With an eggplant colored suit, the color was bold without being overpowering. I selected several complimentary and contrasting colors in the tiny gems that give the jewelry collection a special quality.
What is your favorite design integration reflected in the suit that speaks to your brand?
One of the details in the suit that I especially love is the use of inspiration and theme that goes into every collection, which is what I do with my jewelry collections as well. With the Makers, we all make something unique and meaningful to us as individuals. The names of the suits reflect who we are as artists. Naturally, I am the Metalsmith– a word that has only recently joined Webster’s as a word, because most jewelers in the past were more metal specific and hence referred to as goldsmith or silversmith.
As Metalsmith is a more contemporary descriptor, it also reflects the contemporary twist that Limatus uses on the classic stylings of a traditional suit. The feature of embroidering the name of the suit inside the jacket is a subtle element that the wearer gets to enjoy. We used my handwriting instead of a standard font for the Metalsmith embroidery in my jacket. Who doesn’t love a detail created just for them? If that doesn’t say ‘I’m special’, then I don’t know what does.
