designer delight #4: friedasophie

Don’t ask me when geodes became super hip.

But I would venture to guess that they probably became utterly mesmerizing when designers like Sandra Ducheneaux, the designer behind Friedasophie, started transforming them into this.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What? You can’t stop gawking either?

I figured.

It’s like the sugar bowl just collided with green food coloring, formed into an egg-like shape and swung itself around a 14k gold chain to sparkle on my very own neck. Or something.

To think that this isn’t the case, and instead Sandra Ducheneaux spotted these stones and saw more than rocks, is spectacular.

Ducheneaux is a San Francisco-based designer, but luckily for East Coast gals like me or East Coast guys who’d like to purchase a Friedasophie original for a gal, all of her jewelry is available for purchase on the lovely Etsy.com. According to her profile, she’s an avid traveler inspired by the beauty in the natural world. I can tell. I think that’s what I love most about her pieces: they look traveled. Not in an Indiana Jones kind of way… but maybe actually. If Indiana Jones was on the prowl for, say, an amethyst stalactite.

Her jewelry merges well-traveled with sophisticated and inherited. Even though her work is modern, each gem feels like it’s been passed down a generation or two, and I love that. There’s also a little mystery in each of the pieces. Like in the way that each one is very organically shaped, and yet perfect to hang on a necklace. Or to think that these unbelievably vibrant colors are found by the grace of God as the innards of otherwise ordinary rocks. Maybe because Ducheneaux is an acupuncturist by day and a jewelry designer by night, which is a little mysterious in itself, and by mysterious, I mean ouch! and aww, respectively.

Better yet, she has a blog where she regularly posts sales, specials and giveaways that are happening in her Friedasophie Etsy shop.

So give it a look, and tell me, which piece are you itching to buy?

P.S. Be on the look out for upcoming posts about additional jewelry designers specializing in natural stone because it’s my new favorite thing, and I’m dying to share them with all of you.

design delight #1: Emma Cook

Well, hello again! Welcome to the first real post.
This one is a designer delight. These posts indicate that upon my pinning journey I have stumbled upon a notable designer of some sort. The photos displayed are screen shots of my pin(s) of images created by this designer, and the remainder of the post will tell you why I think they are so talented and a little bit about their work.

[As a fair-warning, not all future posts will fall under the designer delight category. So if this post just confuses you or you simply cannot relate, then fret not. I’ll take your angst as a challenge to feature pins of other sorts as well, and I’ll invite you to come back in search of them. And if you love this post, well then thank you. Stay tuned.]

I wanted to spotlight Emma Cook, of Cape Town, South Africa. She’s a freelance illustrator who created these super rad A-Z Design Nerds Flash Cards. Her illustration for the letter Q might be my favorite because my clock is the enemy. Think Superman and kryptonite. But to be honest, every single flash card is spot-on:

You know, when you’re up til 2 a.m. working your little fingers to the bone with a million and one tabs open on Google Chrome, and the crash symbol is almost promised.

Better yet, she describes this piece as “another silly little side project,” which gives me solace in knowing that I am not the only one who pours over designs until all hours of the night for my own personal enjoyment.

The rest of her work, from the looks of her website, appears equally as sharp and clean, and it has a cartoon-y edge in the best way possible. It makes her designs so playful that you just cannot stop looking through them all.

Like this one:

It’s an adorable self-portrait that she made for a site called The Shape Factory.

Take a look for yourself. You won’t be disappointed, and you can teach adorable little ones the ABCs of design nerds and turn them into cuties of this caliber:

So what could be better?

But seriously, has anyone spotted any pins lately that scream design masterpiece and design geek-dom equally as loud?
I’d love to hear about ’em.