Glass Tower: jewellery that brings you closer to nature

7^th May 2013

Jenny Rodgers

Jenny Rodgers

7 May 2013

We may turn to plastics or metal to create pieces of costume jewellery, but we can often find beauty in the things that are found underground – crystals. Crystals play a big part in Glass Tower’s pieces.

Glass Tower is the gem that was created by Keri Arwen who was born in Berkeley and mostly raised in the North West of America. She now resides in Portland and is a graduate of Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she studied design and print-making. Keri’s main focus is her jewellery, but occasionally she dabbles in screen-printing and graphic design. She started Glass Tower in 2012, which began as a hobby making glass beaded earrings. She named the label Glass Tower because she wanted a business to represent her work and herself. “Glass” relates to her beadwork and “Tower” is a translation of her last name.

Her earrings are stunning but the rings really stand out from the range. For example, this River Wood & Creedite Crystal Ring looks stunning as the contrast of the wood against the neutral tones of the crystal works so well.

A ring that would create a talking point amongst friends is this River Wood & Amethyst Geode Ring as it shows how different elements of nature can work together.

When asked why crystals are her medium of choice, Keri said: “I’ve always gravitated toward making things with my hands. Even in my earliest etchings I portrayed and fixated on the detail of mineral crystals, so carving and making jewellery seemed like a natural progression.” Clearly Keri loves her surroundings and it plays a big part in inspiring her: “I would say the nature of my work reflects the atmosphere of the Northwest, and being in this environment makes it easy to find inspiration. Also, this town is full of people making stuff; that alone is inspiring.”

So, if you’re fed up of jewellery made from man-made materials and want something that looks truly handcrafted, then Glass Tower is the label for you.

Jenny Rodgers

For more information on Glass Tower, head over to the Etsy site here.