I see hundreds of fallen leaves on my walks through the forest to and from my studio.  Now I collect, dry them in big books, and then print them onto silver.  There are so many different kinds of leaves and flowers and mosses, butterfly wings and feathers, so many birds and bats and forest animals!  I could never run out of inspiration from Nature!"   

     ~Marie-Chantal Nadeau, Jewelry Artist and Creator

 

We had an opportunity to visit with one of our jewelry artisans, Marie-Chantal Jewelry Design (Vendor #471), during the International Denver Gem & Mineral Show this past September. We fell in love with her nature-inspired line, "Earth," and this year she expanded her Earth Collection. We happily returned with new designs and replenished some of the originals!  Her designs caught the attention of the Lapidary Journal, one of the leading jewelers' magazines in the U.S., and were featured on the cover in the June 2017 edition.  "Marie-Chantal's collections pirouette from uber-modern, to Zen-inspired, to botanical, entomological and paleontological, to Cartier-style high fashion and back, without a faux pas in between," says Terry Haag, writer for Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Magazine.

 

Dante Alighieri said over 600 years ago that "Nature is the art of God" and, in The Divine Comedy, that Nature is the offspring of God.  One could extrapolate from these expressions that, as offspring of God ourselves, our own art is like God's grandchild.  Just as children often mimic or copy the things they see and admire, so too do artists find inspiration from Nature, which in turn brings joy to others.  This is especially true of Marie-Chantal, who creates each piece by hand in her Costa Rican rainforest studio, from design to production to distribution.  Her artwork is one of the truest forms of celebration of the Divine, inspired by and created within Nature.  Please visit us at Nature's Treasures to read more about her in our store copy of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Thanks!