One might say the recently debuted collaboration from jeweler Pamela Love and James Beard Award–winning chef Sophia Roe, A Closer Look, is one for the foodies—it certainly is—but its reach goes well beyond that.
“This collection is dedicated to fungi, the way we interact within our planet, and in honor of our dearest and most beloved ancestor, nature,” wrote Sophia Roe on Instagram on Dec. 5, the date of the collection’s debut. “With this collection, it is my desperate hope that through this unique medium I can express the individual beauty of a mycelial wave, honor the incomprehensible scale of nature’s intelligence, and always encourage the importance for humans to take a closer look, and then even closer.”
This is one for the environmentalist, the meticulous, the curious, the adventurist. And really, it’s for those who admire the work of Pamela Love (and, really, who doesn’t?).
With its use of recycled sterling silver, A Closer Look gets up close with one of nature’s most versatile wonders—the mushroom. The collection’s necklace, earrings, rings, and a magnifying glass that doubles as tool and objet d’art gives Mother Nature her much-deserved moment to shine.
Below, JCK had a few questions for Pamela Love on her new collaboration with Sophia Roe.
How did this collaboration come about?
I have long been a fan of Sophia, and we have followed each other on Instagram for a while. I have always loved collaborating with deeply creative people, and I had a feeling Sophia would be a dream to work with so we just went out on a limb and reached out to her!
A number of designers have ventured into creating mushroom jewelry, but none on such a micro level as this, with such zoomed-in detail. I know that detail is an important aspect of this collection—can you talk to us a little more about that?
We wanted to base the collection around fungi but wanted to really take a closer look at it, closer than anyone has before. We are both especially fascinated at looking at the world around us under strong magnification, commonly using a magnifying loupe. While Sophia is examining the poetic gills of mushrooms she finds, I am scrutinizing and reveling at the textures and crevices on a tiny piece of molten gold after it has hardened, or the metallic flecks in a piece of blue lapis. We both use nature as our inspirations and wanted to honor how much it has given us.
Can you speak to your choice of sterling silver for this collection?
This is actually one of Sophia’s favorite materials, so it felt natural to [use to create] the collection.
Do you have any thoughts on the psychedelic/healing powers of mushrooms and perhaps their representation through jewelry?
I believe that psilocybin can help people have profound, deeply healing, and connecting experiences. I believe it’s only the beginning with regards to us understanding the ways we can use mushrooms to heal, to carve new neural pathways in our brains, to overcome trauma, and connect with ourselves and nature.
Top: Sophia Roe models pieces from her collaboration with Pamela Love (photo courtesy of Pamela Love)
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazineFollow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
