Lark and Lotus Jewelry Design : About

In many different cultures and eras, the lark and the lotus each have stood as powerful symbols of creation and strength. Their delicate beauty belie great transformative powers. The lark, safe flying high above the ground, sings to signal the beginning of each day. The lotus pushes up from the mud through murky waters to bloom at the surface. Both flourish in precarious conditions and are at once delicate and strong. Lark and Lotus jewelry draws inspiration from various cultures and symbols to create jewelry that is at once unique and classically beautiful.

Suzannah's first line, “The Catherine Rose Collection” is an otherworldly mix of art nouveau and Victorian poetry and aesthetics. It is jewelry for those who in a past life lived in Paris and witnessed the Ballet Russe at the Chatelet. It is for women who as young girls fell in love with Jane Erye and any other book whose heroine falls tragically in love and succumbs to consumption. It is heirloom quality jewelry for modern women alive with symbolism of transcendence, sensuality and truth. If you, like the women of Art Nouveau, are not only a tousled enchantress but the living embodiment of ideals of justice, progress and faith, then the Catherine Rose Collection is for you.

Her second Collection, "Gris-Gris" is inspired by the mysticism and culture of New Orleans, grown from West African Voodoo. It is jewelry for anyone who has ever sat on their front porch on muggy summer nights, listening to the cicadas loudly hum and felt that the air was not only thick with heat, but magic too. It is for anyone who has eaten a hot bowl of gumbo, danced until the sweat poured down, and carried in their pocket a sea shell, penny or river stone for luck and protection.

Lark and Lotus' mission and passion is to create high-quality, fanciful jewelry that has worth beyond the metals and gemstones. “I believe that the worth of the jewelry is strongly determined by its wearer. Each piece of jewelry is a storage vessel for stories and memories. I thrive on creating adornment that is more than just pretty gems, but also reflection of various cultures, and diverse time periods. I combine vintage charms and cultural symbolism with a modern, stylish elegance.”

Suzannah Murray grew up in Baltimore catching blue-crabs and spending summers at the beach making jewelry with a hot glue gun and sea-shells. She was born with a constant itch to move and travel and a love of all things beautiful and wearable. The nomadic blood in her veins led her from the row houses of Baltimore, to the skyscrapers of New York at the age of 17. She attended New York University, where she received a BA in anthropology, and took her first metalsmithing classes. As a student there her tumbleweed nature took over again and led her from bedouin tents in Jordan, the tombs of Kings in Egypt, to Parisian fleamarkets, and onto Nigerien mud huts. While in Niamey, Niger she apprenticed with a Tuareg Silversmith. Back in New York City, she found that she was persistently daydreaming about liquidating metals, and treasure hunting for vintage charms and gemstones, so she decided it was time to rove again. The next journey was cross-country to the hills of San Francisco to attend the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts, where she obtained her Graduate Jeweler degree. She soon married a nice Southern boy, and moved once again. This time into the magic, history and rebirth of New Orleans, which gives her constant inspiration for her growing collections of jewelry. Suzannah is proud to have helped establish www.equatorjewelry.com, a website for handcrafted jewelry made by the women of Lugazi, Uganda. She was honored to have worked with these strong women in the making of gorgeous jewels that empower and inspire.