www.modernluxuria.com
Plains Cree Silversmith and Jeweller Erik Lee Creating beautiful silver jewellery infused with Cree Culture WORDS BY KAREN MEURER
When you look at Erik Lee’s jewellery, his passion to create is obvious in every piece. The beautiful silver bracelets and earrings are embellished with Plains Cree symbols, incorporating his culture with every curve. We spoke with Lee to find out what makes him tick and how his inspirations turn into beautiful, wearable art pieces.
Tell us a little bit about you. What got you
comes from. I'm influenced by ancient designs
started in making silver jewellery?
as well as pop culture, sci-fi, architecture,
I transitioned from other mediums in about
nature, high fashion and so on. As for process,
2007. I was carving wood on Vancouver Island
that can vary. One thing that is important
and spending a lot of time in a studio with
is music, I like music in the studio. When it
friends from the west coast indigenous art
comes to design, sometimes I begin with a
traditions. One of whom was engraving silver
sketch on paper, sometimes I start by just
and copper. I asked if he would show me
cutting silver with no plan. It really depends, at
some of the ropes, he did, and I became a little
times, the design will come out spontaneously
obsessed from there. I did a lot of studying
and very organically and other times I will
and reading as much as I could about working
work the composition over and over, drawing
with metal and about jewellery making
and correcting and reworking for an extended
techniques. I did short mentorships with
period of time until I feel the flow is as precise
master silversmiths from the Navajo, Pueblo,
as it can be. Ultimately , the metal will dictate
Mandan, and Kwakuitl tribes. That and a lot of
the possibilities of what you can do with it but
trial and error and expensive mistakes brings
the trick is to be able to push the boundaries
me to where I am today with my art practice.
of what is technically and artistically possible.
What is your inspiration when creating?
What does "luxuria" mean to you?
What is your process?
Luxuria means the finer things, the things
I draw inspiration from the visual design
we deserve to surround ourselves with.
sensibilities of my Plains Cree heritage. I draw
“Making jewellery and having the ability to
inspiration from many places and I love to
create work I believe in is what makes me the
innovate and bring the artform to new places.
happiest and most fulfilled; that’s what keeps
I try not to limit the places that my inspiration
me at it.” — Erik Lee
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