
Between Flora And Fauna, Between Myth And Magic
Marilyn sang about them, Liz Taylor adored them, and in Breakfast at Tiffany’s Audrey Hepburn said that you could always tell what kind of a person a man thinks you are by the earrings he gives you. Even more, Coco Chanel loved to repeat that costume jewelry is not made to give women an aura of wealth, but rather to make them beautiful, and if she said it…

In the world of jewelry, the name of American designer Daniela Villegas is already known, and for years she has given us emotions through her creations where aesthetics, nature, and colors combine in every single piece of handiwork. Like an ancient alchemist, Daniela often combines organic elements such as feathers, quills, shells, pebbles, and wood together with gold, mixed with precious and semi-precious stones.Using quite diverse materials, the designer gives life to creations inspired by beetles, millipedes, hamsters, the world of the abyss, and in particular, chameleons – a symbol ‘par excellence’ for change and the art of reinvention that we find in many of her works.

The names of individual pieces are exotic and recall a faraway world, that of Native Americans, of great ancient empires and of pre-Colombian civilizations: for example, Chapultepec, in Nahuatl meaning ‘mountain of crickets’, is the name of a mountain west of Mexico City, but also the name of a wonderful brooch depicting a stylized cricket.
Everything in Villegas’ compositions refers to a syncretic world where myth and magic, flora and fauna blend; here, then, key elements of tradition resurface in jewelry creations.
For example, a significant part of the collection is dedicated to the figure of the porcupine. Necklaces, rings, and earrings are made of gold, pearls, real porcupine quills and semi-precious stones, inspired by this animal whose quills represent a powerful amulet of protection against negative energy for Native Americans.
Her jewelry seems to materialize from spiritual voyages; it combines primitive figurative elements, images and visions of light that at the same time reflect the colors of the stones that Villegas chooses. Nowadays, this jewelry has become a real obsession among Hollywood stars of the likes of Salma Hayek, Demi Moore, Halle Berry, Emma Watson, Christina Aguilera, Lindsay Lohan and Mia Maestro, just to name a few of the Villegas addicted.
Autore: Demetrio Baffa Trasci Amalfitani di Crucoli
