A HELIO SEQUENCE: Green Lake showcases bench artist Amber Worley’s own collection of sterling silver for the holidays
Green Lake Designer: Amber Worley
In addition to the original pieces Amber Worley creates for her clientele at Green Lake, she’s a designer, gemstone setter, and gold & platinumsmith who maintains a personal line of striking pieces which appeal to her own smart aesthetic.
90 percent of the fine jewelry that leaves Green Lake’s doors is entirely custom and inspired directly from our customers. It can take weeks to months for a piece to go from concept to completion. Still, the design floor continually showcases a diverse range of finished jewelry from our own artisan metalsmiths – all available for purchase now, and especially in time for the holidays.
This season we have a selected line from one of our most tenured and especially talented designers, Amber Worely. A graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle with a focus in industrial design, Amber discovered a passion for designing and fabricating jewelry early on.
It was actually while in college, thumbing through a collected work of large sculptures, that she stumbled upon the inspiration for this ‘Horns’ pendent. Though much smaller and decisively demure than the massive metal horn installation she’d once seen, the piece still maintains a toughness that drew her to these bold lines those several years back.
Sterling silver , hand carved from wax, with sandblast finish
The jewelry in Amber’s present line, Helio, all feature rough casting grain – or ‘beads’ of silver and gold that are typically melted down in the investment casting process to make clean shapes, such as rings and mountings. Rounded in the process of extraction from mined ore, these refined and tumbled metals have an almost eerie shimmer; looking to Amber more like intergalactic heliospheres of gas and stardust than earthbound elements alone. Hence the collection’s name: Helio.
Helio Ring – Sterling silver with 18k yellow gold, hand carved from wax, with sandblast and high polish finishes.
Helio Earings – Sterling silver with 18k yellow gold, hand carved from wax, with sandblast finish.
Helio Pendent – Sterling silver with 18k yellow gold, hand carved from wax, with sandblast and high polish finishes.
When asked the kind of person she originally envisioned wearing these pieces as she crafted them, Amber sites the trendy hair salon across the way: “I think of those cool chicks who can pull off wearing all black and dark make-up, look seriously pretty , yet not overly emo or goth… if that makes sense!”
Amber’s jewelry is available in-store or online at Green Lake Jewelry Works alongside unique collections from other talented craftsmen and bench artists at the shop. Pieces in the Helio line run between $200-$300 respectively.