Pamela Love on Being a Rebel in the Jewelry Design Space
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Pamela Love she didn’t always love jewelry.
“In the beginning, I really didn’t like jewelry at all. My mother was a big jewelry person, but it was very basic jewelry,” Love said.
As love became a teenager, her mindset shifted and she began making jewelry out of anything she could find.
“I was making jewelry out of found objects and kind of finding clever ways to adorn myself,” Love said. “Maybe as an act of rebellion against what I thought was the cookie cutter idea of what jewelry is.”
Eventually, Love founded her eponymous line of jewelry in 2007 and the rest is history.
For the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Love shares how she got her start, what she thinks of some of her most iconic styles, whether you really can mix metals, and more.
For excerpts from their conversation, scroll below.
Tell us a bit about how you fell in love with jewelry?
In the beginning, I really didn’t like jewelry at all. My mother was a big jewelry person, but it was very basic jewelry. Diamond tennis bracelets, classic, but also just diamonds.
The bigger they look, the better. Whether it was real or faux, it was all a very classic prong set something or other.
I just kind of felt it was a little bit boring and formulaic. I was like, “I’m not into jewelry. I’m not a jewelry person.”
As I got a little older—a little older being maybe 14 or 15—I started exploring making jewelry out of anything I could find.
I was making jewelry out of found objects and kind of finding clever ways to adorn myself. Maybe as an act of rebellion against what I thought was the cookie cutter idea of what jewelry is.
Obviously, fast forward I love diamonds and I love working with fine materials, but as a tween and a teen, I fell in love with the idea of making jewelry and adorning myself in ways that were subversive or different and very hands-on.
I don’t know if there was one point in which I totally fell in love or if it happened slowly over years to the point where, when I was coming out of college, I was a totally jewelry-obsessed person.
I have to share I had the five spike ear jacket style. To me, I was like, “These earrings are sensational.” It was my whole personality for a very, very long time. I want to hear about this earring. Do you think of that as one of your iconic styles?
Yes and it was a top seller for a very long time. It was a fun piece. The way it came to be was actually quite funny.
We used to make this necklace that was like a carved skull. We had a turquoise one and a jade one and carnelian.
At the bottom was this little kind of spike.
When you are making large amounts of something, you don’t cast just one, you make a casting tree.
That means the mold had six or eight of them that would cast at one time.
One day, I was like looking at them as they came out of the casting and they come out all attached and then you clip them and then you attach the jump ring and attach it to the necklace.
I was like, “Hmm, this thing makes an interesting earring and maybe it’ll be good behind the ear.”
We used to say it in our off-slot, “Jewelry happens.” It was a “Jewelry happens” moment.
It ended up being a really popular style.
You have a super wide range of beautiful pieces and I feel like your brand is a great one where someone can really find something that speaks to their personality or point of view. I’m curious which styles have kind of risen to the top or are most popular?
In 2020, we launched a piercing line. So a new category. It’s earrings, but they’re typically with a threaded back or a pushback, so that you can be pierced with them, along with huggies and clickers that are smaller scale.
That line has become an enormous part of the business.
Even our store in Brooklyn we offer piercing and that’s a very popular service.
I would say the piercing collection definitely has really grown and is a big part of the business.
As well our engagement ring collection, which is more bespoke, so it gives me the opportunity to work more closely with a lot of our clients.
Pamela Love
4mm Molten Double Dot Stud
Pamela Love
10mm Dot Huggie
Pamela Love
Molten Eternity Band
Pamela Love
Alexander Signet Ring
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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