Rachael DePasquale is a jewelry designer who has been creating handcrafted pieces under the brand Mezze Jewelry since 2013. She was born in Santa Cruz, California and has lived in Boston, New York and is now back home in San Francisco. After enrolling in a silver smithing course, she found herself taken by the process of working with her hands; carving wax, sawing, hammering, and casting in a variety of metals including sterling silver, 14k and 18k gold. She continued to take courses, learning a variety of jewelry techniques and in 2014, she honed her bench skills by working with a designer in Brooklyn, NY. During that time, she learned the ins and outs of the trade and began selling her work on-line and at select pop-up events and markets.
Ms. DePasquale’s past design exploration has included working with natural, found objects and casting them into wearable pieces of jewelry. Currently her focus is to create refined minimalistic designs carved from wax and then cast and assembled. Her effort is focused on the perceived simplicity of a piece, which, upon closer inspection, reveals notes of intricacy and detail not immediately apparent to anyone other than the wearer.
“I travel a lot, and this fundamentally influences how I see the world. My work aims to reveal nuances of the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met. Each design exposes a fragment of a memory, whispers of a culture or locale and is a tangible sentiment of those experiences. My hope is that my jewelry conjures the beginning of a new personal story immediately upon wearing a piece. I am dedicated to producing well-made, beautifully crafted work using recycled metals and obtaining gemstones from suppliers who are committed to ethical sourcing.”
Ms. DePasquale’s design process often starts by sitting at her bench with a block of wax or piece of metal and simply carving or forming. Sometimes a found natural object or architectural style will provide the perfect subtle pattern or texture for a design. She uses an assortment of techniques to produce rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings including soldering, casting, and hand forming and forging silver and gold metal. Semi-precious and precious gemstones are occasionally added to enhance her designs. Rachael DePasquale is a self-taught jewelry designer, who has been creating handcrafted pieces under the brand Mezze Jewelry since 2013. She was born in Santa Cruz, California and has lived in Boston, New York and is now back home in San Francisco. After enrolling in a silver smithing course, she found herself taken by the process of working with her hands; carving wax, sawing, hammering, and casting in a variety of metals including sterling silver, 14k and 18k gold. She continued to take courses, learning a variety of jewelry techniques and in 2014, she honed her bench skills by working with a designer in Brooklyn, NY. During that time, she learned the ins and outs of the trade and began selling her work on-line and at select pop-up events and markets.
Ms. DePasquale’s past design exploration has included working with natural, found objects and casting them into wearable pieces of jewelry. Currently her focus is to create refined minimalistic designs carved from wax and then cast and assembled. Her effort is focused on the perceived simplicity of a piece, which, upon closer inspection, reveals notes of intricacy and detail not immediately apparent to anyone other than the wearer.
“I travel a lot, and this fundamentally influences how I see the world. My work aims to reveal nuances of the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met. Each design exposes a fragment of a memory, whispers of a culture or locale and is a tangible sentiment of those experiences. My hope is that my jewelry conjures the beginning of a new personal story immediately upon wearing a piece. I am dedicated to producing well-made, beautifully crafted work using recycled metals and obtaining gemstones from suppliers who are committed to ethical sourcing.”
Ms. DePasquale’s design process often starts by sitting at her bench with a block of wax or piece of metal and simply carving or forming. Sometimes a found natural object or architectural style will provide the perfect subtle pattern or texture for a design. She uses an assortment of techniques to produce rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings including soldering, casting, and hand forming and forging silver and gold metal. Semi-precious and precious gemstones are occasionally added to enhance her designs.