Unhada’s Jocelyn Prestia Follows Her Dreams for Lucid Collection

By Karen Dybis | October 29, 2025

With her dreamy new Lucid collection, Unhada designer Jocelyn Prestia says she is exploring a softer, more contemplative look and offering charms for the first time.

Since she founded Unhada in 2006, Prestia has often made statement jewelry, working mostly in 18k gold and with gemstones she sourced from Bangkok, her home base. But as gold prices soar and women seek subtler pieces to layer, Lucid captures a quietly elegant side for the brand, she says.

“The idea had been living in the back of my head. At times I wondered about a more avant-garde fashion line. Then, after a conversation with longtime retailer Phoebe Cates Kline of Blue Tree, I put some thought into a lower-karat line,” Prestia explains.

“Fourteen-karat was too commercial. However, 9 karat reminded me of antique jewelry, which is what pulled me into this industry in the first place. So, after nearly 20 years, it felt like coming full circle,” she adds.

UNHADA LUCID NIRVANA — *Nirvana pendant ($2,350) in 9k gold with freshwater pearls, aquamarine, and diamonds*

Prestia chose Lucid as the collection’s name because she tries to make her jewelry feel like it exists in a space between earth and the heavens—and as a tribute to the women who wear it, dreamers like herself who may need escape from busy reality (one definition of lucid is being cognizant while dreaming).

“I am a mom of three girls. Between that element of my life and the world around me, I struggle to feel sane a lot of the time,” says Prestia. “My work is what both lifts me up and grounds me. The worlds I create are my escape, and I wanted the 9 karat line to present as a simpler escape, like running through the clouds.

“My jewelry has never been meant to be simply jewelry. Unhada’s fans and wearers understand this,” she says. “It is meant to lift the wearer up, to bring them to where they need to be, whether it be in a fantasy world or their own private reality that is unaffected by others. Lucid is meant to cut out the noise and focus on the dreams that lie right in front of us.”

UNHADA LUCID CHARMS — *Unhada’s first charms—from left, Portalis, ($2.270), Elysian, and Slumber, ($2,035 each)—are in the Lucid collection.*

Although Prestia says her jewelry designs are like her children—all of them are her favorites—she loves Lucid’s Nirvana pendant in particular. “It feels like a key that opens a portal to a magical realm, which has always been my thing,” she says.

Lucid’s charms—Elysian, Slumber, and Portalis—are a first for the brand. Prestia says she introduced the charms as pieces meant to take the wearer out of their grounded life and transport them somewhere higher.

“Slumber would be my favorite. The soothing colors and lightness make you feel like you are wearing a piece of the clouds,” Prestia says. “I also love the charm chain, Reverie. I have already started working on variations of this and love the idea of seeing Unhada’s charm stacks with people’s personal collections.”

Charms fit into the Unhada aesthetic, she says, because jewelry is so individual, which is one of the many things she loves about it.

“I have never understood the idea of wearing what everyone else is, being or looking the same. The women that own Unhada are independent-minded,” Prestia says. “I think my charms appeal to that because they are not like any other charms out there—that’s part of why it took me 20 years to finally release any.”

Top: Jocelyn Prestia’s newest collection, Lucid, includes the moonstone and pearl Dreamscape necklace, Lumina stud earrings with keshi pearls and 9k gold tassels, and the drop-shaped Oracle pendant necklace. (Photos courtesy of Unhada)