When you go through Mark Loren’s jewellery history, it’s clear that he’s got just about everything you could want. He’s got necklaces, earrings, beaded bracelets, rings and more, because designing bespoke jewellery is his art.
“These earrings have the little golden sea oats. These are FOSS carved fossilised mammoth ivory starfish. So this is ivory that’s about 50,000 to 100,000 years old, on its way to turning into stone carved colour,” says Loren.And when he’s not using his art to make a living, Loren uses his gift to help others.
“My granddaughter and I rescued some birds, we rescued a rabbit and took it to CROW. So she was able to have that experience and see what they do out there for the wildlife in our area. And that’s pretty important,” Loren said.
So when the Sanibel Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife needed help after Hurricane Ian, Loren came through.
They contacted me and said, “Look, we’ve come up with this beautiful new line, the Sea Oats collection. And we’d like the proceeds to go to CROW, we were just overwhelmed by their generosity,” said Alison Charney Hussey of CROW.”We were able to scan some tiny little seed pods, turn them into gold and we decided to create the sea oat collection. With all the profits going to CROW,” said Loren.
So far, Loren has sold 19 pieces of his Sea Oats collection, raising $10,000 for CROW.
“His generosity is amazing. And it’s a full circle moment for us,” said Hussey.
Loren told WINK News he plans to keep the Sea Oats collection going to help CROW rebuild and look after the native wildlife.
