How Salma Hayek's daughter-in-law conquered Hollywood stars with naive jewelry with porcupine quills: Jeweler Daniela Villegas

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Laconic design is not for temperamental Mexican women! A relative of Salma Hayek, jeweler Daniela Villegas, creates ironic jewelry inspired by nature. Alpaca rings, dinosaur pendants and coyotes signet rings have conquered celebrities in a world where minimalism reigned for a long time.

As a child, Daniela loved to play with her great-grandmother's jewelry. Antique rings and earrings, darkened with time, but retaining their charm, delighted the girl. Growing up, she decided to create jewelry that reminded her of her childhood - a complex combination of naivety and a touch of antiquity. Daniela dreams that her creations will be passed on in families from generation to generation, like the jewels of her great-grandmother.

Despite the fact that Daniela has been making jewelry all her life, at first, under the influence of her family and the turbulent economic situation in Mexico, she decided to study business administration in college. But to follow the mind, not the heart, she was able to only two years - and then dropped out of college and began to look for work in the fashion world. In 2008, she moved to the United States with her husband and decided to devote all her time to jewelry design. The first collection included many feathers - in this way the designer sought to express her own sense of freedom.

This is how small, graceful, randomly constructed pendants and earrings appeared. They seem like a toy - and at the same time are full of unusual images and combinations, and the choice of materials is amazing every time. Daniela says that she is inspired by the life around her - in every manifestation. She believes that the world for a designer or artist is like a playground filled with movement, changing colors, images, many interesting little things, a place where you can have fun, play and experiment. This is also the design of the jewelry created by Daniela - like the result of a child's play.

But there is also something shocking about this immediacy. The child does not yet know that there are things that are not entirely acceptable in society, topics that are not accepted to talk about - and in Daniela's jewelry there is a kind of flirting with the forbidden, frightening. At the same time, Mexican culture is different from European one. There is no fear of the dark side of life here. In addition, since childhood, Daniela has been collecting children's books with eerie medieval fairy tales since childhood - their simplicity and at the same time mystery open up new horizons for her. And, although Daniela now lives in Los Angeles, she is not afraid to shock the American public with pendants with beetles and amphibians - however, these motifs are stylized and look charming.

These strange things are meant to bring love in a world where political and economic upheavals follow one another. “The world is so crazy now,” Daniela laments and … goes on a hike to relax and find new ideas.

Daniela makes her jewelry by hand, each of them is unique. It can take a year to complete each collection to perfection - and yet these decorations seem so simple and even a little careless. There are seven pieces in each collection, because seven is a magic number, and magic, symbolism and belief in the power of nature are the foundations of Daniela's worldview. “When you wear jewelry with the treasures of nature, you take the power of nature with you,” she says. In a sense, Villegas is a pantheist, nature is what she believes in, what she draws strength from. But nature not only gives Daniela inspiration. Together with colored gold and precious stones, the jeweler likes to use the gifts of nature, which can literally be found underfoot - feathers, dried insects, shells of mollusks, porcupine quills, even river and sea pebbles. Favorite Villegas stones are opals, chrysoberyl and jasper, because their shades and textures are so diverse.

I must say that the designer takes a very responsible approach to the images of nature in his jewelry. Having conceived a new collection, she carefully studies everything that is associated with this or that animal. In another life, she dreams of becoming a botanist or entomologist, but for now she reads the available scientific literature, visits science museums and the Cabinet of Curiosities … She herself has a herbarium, a collection of insects, crabs and stones, and if an influx of more powerful ideas is needed, Daniela goes out into the garden to take a walk into the forest or embarks on a journey.

By the way, Daniela has a special connection with crustaceans - her grandfather was born under the sign of Cancer, and these motives remind Daniela of a loved one who has passed away, and also that no one and nothing leaves without a trace. Among the people who influenced her work are the naturalist and traveler Alfred Russell Wallace, the artist-entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian, the director David Attenborough and the same James Cook with his travel notes.

Daniela is married to the brother of another prominent Mexican woman - Salma Hayek, industrial designer Sami Hayek, who supports her husband in everything. She herself created wedding rings for herself and her lover, choosing a very unexpected motive - Villegas and Hayek's fingers are decorated with … worms. Made of black and rose gold. When connected, the rings form an "infinity" sign. The couple's home reflects their values and eccentricities. Antique lamps from the Villegas family collection, portraits of matadors, colorful pillows and rugs, Hayek's designs, an art collection and many vintage items that Daniela perceives as sources of strength.

Villegas also cooperates with large brands, jewelry houses with a long history. The most successful was her collaboration with Salvatore Ferragamo, Daniela created cute bird-shaped jewelry and inspired the brand to create ads, where earrings and rings "fly out" of the cage against the backdrop of tropical leaves. Her jewelry is adored by many Hollywood actresses and stage stars - Emma Watson, Halle Berry, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan and, of course, Salma Hayek, who actively promotes Mexican culture. Daniela has her own Instagram, where she demonstrates jewelry, the process of their creation, a travel diary and everything that interests her.