As a young fashion designer, Mara Scalise never imagined a future in jewellery. But life can take you in unexpected directions.
Just as Steve Jobs dropped out of college to study Buddhism before co-founding Apple, Scalise dropped out of college to explore and eventually discovered Reiki, a healing art form. This led her to alchemy, and learning more about metals led her to create jewellery based on handmade forms, punk sensibilities and her deep interest in spirituality. She started her business in 2013.
“My jewellery is an extension of myself. I create each piece because I love to wear it myself,” says Scalise, who is now based in Los Angeles. “Some pieces are more statement or punk, and some are more classic and timeless. I am very particular about details and finishes, and all pieces have to make sense to me visually when they are on the body. My pieces are complete when they visually click in my eyes.
Looking back, Scalise says she can see how her jewellery journey began as a child, going through her mother’s jewellery box and studying her wedding ring. It was a joyful childhood, Scalise says, filled with adventures with her two older brothers.
“I was a very happy little girl with a great sense of freedom,” she says. “I remember being very curious about the world. I loved adventures and was certainly a tomboy.
She attended high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and as a teenager worked at the local McDonald’s – a place she says was “much cooler than its American counterpart”. She finished high school and enrolled in college, but dropped out to move to New York and work in fashion.
“My mum had a sewing machine when I was little, and she kept it in my room. I started making clothes for my dolls and from there I started altering my mum’s clothes. I used vintage pieces that I collected and men’s Levi’s jeans that I turned into skinny jeans for myself – skinny jeans did not exist at that time,” says Scalise.
“When I was about 20, I used to design clothes and swimsuits that I wanted to wear. Women would come up to me and ask me where I got the clothes I was designing and wearing. They loved them and started buying them right away,” says Scalise. “It started out as a hobby. I just enjoyed creating. It came very naturally to me. I didn’t study fashion, so it took me a long time to call myself a designer.
Scalise says she rediscovered jewellery around the time her son turned 2. She practised Reiki and became interested in alchemy and the healing power of metals. She started making her own gold and silver jewellery to wear and then sell.
Scalise’s jewellery, both fashion and fine, seems to be shaped from memory, not a machine. Perfection is never the goal – an imperfect heart or an elongated line out of proportion to the rest of the piece is what makes it memorable.
A lot of jewellery has the supposed power of protection, but Scalise takes this symbolism a step further: She infuses each piece with Reiki healing before it goes out into the world and onto the wearer.
“As a Reiki master, I started doing this from the beginning,” says Scalise. “To me, jewellery can be seen as armour, something we put on to protect ourselves and increase our confidence. Customers email us to tell us how the jewellery made them feel – strong, confident, powerful, badass. For me, that is the best feedback.
