Today’s Jewelry Collection Story comes from Xarissa of @jewelboxing on TikTok and @jewel_boxing on Instagram. Of course I follow on both platforms, but I actually discovered her account over on TikTok a few years ago. I enjoy following her for her honest and insightful jewelry reviews and intelligent takes on hot topics in our industry. I’ll never forget when she announced turning 40 (same age as me) and I thought for sure she was at least 10 years younger than me haha. Xarissa also has a growing personal collection and I’m so excited she has agreed to share it with us:
“I started collecting about 10 years ago. No one in my family was really into jewelry, so I didn’t have a lot of exposure to the real stuff, but in my late 20s I really wanted to level up from the plated pieces I’d bought at Zara or whatever and were turning my skin green. So catbird and Mejuri were the gateway drugs. But during COVID lockdown, I had much more time on my hands and really got into the research element. I was looking at different historical eras, buying books on jewelry, exploring new designers on Instagram and all the rest. It really took off from there because I realized how much there was to this space.”
“Favorite motif I collect? This is less a motif and more of a technique, but I love enamel, particularly when it’s really detailed. One of my most treasured vintage pieces is my Leo medallion, which just looks so much nicer than a lot of what’s new on the market now. It’s not designer, but you can see the precision that went into making it and I love that.”
“I love jewelry because it’s the perfect marriage of the natural world and human creativity. It took the earth millions of years to make these gemstones and metals, and then people over time have figured out ways to shape them into something beautiful and wearable. It’s all totally unnecessary, because we don’t need jewelry to survive the elements or protect our skin or do any of the things we need clothes and shoes for. But we adorn ourselves with them anyway. I love it.”
“I’ve snagged some amazing pieces from Instagram sellers, and the usual suspects like Ruby Lane or eBay. But honestly for me the jewelry shows are the best way to shop — there’s nothing like trying something on to tell you if it’s a good buy. Figuring out scale and fit and color nuances can be really hard online, unless you’re very experienced. I always go to JAWS and the Jewelry and Object shows in NYC. I’m hoping to hit Miami next year too.”
“One of my first antique purchases were these conversion earrings. They have this lovely Art Nouveau motif, and were originally cufflinks. You can still see the marks on the back where those were removed, and screw attachments were added to wear them on earrings. So I believe they were an early conversion, potentially from the 20s when a lot of women weren’t necessarily piercing their ears. I really enjoy seeing those little marks of how we’ve been adapting and preserving jewelry over time.”
