Dasilva Holiday Collection

I am leaving for vacation and will be back fresh, rested and with new blood in 10 days.

I this meantime I am giving you a glimpse of my limited Holiday Collection created for my website.

Have a fabulous Thanksgiving Day and thank you so much for following my design endeavours.

Stay tuned!

Fernando.

I promise to you that this collection is sparkly, fun and glamorous!

All images by Fernando Dasilva  - 2010.

A quick glance on "Modern Expressions", the book

I am very excited about getting an advance copy of my book "Modern Expressions - creating fabulous and fashionable jewelry with easy-to-find elements" published by North Light books, a imprint of FW Media, by tomorrow.

This project has been my baby for the last 14 months and now that is a reality, I feel like another journey begins.

Appearances, workshops, book signings and more will rely on my ability to find the right venues so the promotion can be done right.  I have already talked with different businees partners and I am glad that there is a good network of people and companies that are willing to jin me to turn this book into a success.

I am posting below a cropped picture of the opening page of a chapter dedicated to SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS...the designs bring a different approach on combining components and I take a chance on some of my onw design skills. 

I will be sharing more of the book on the upcoming weeks.

Get ready and think about my book as a fabulous and fashionable gift for Christmas.

See you,

Fernando Dasilva.

On the spotlight crystals from SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS assortment.

Blue stringing wire  and silver-plated German style wire by BEADALON.

Image extracted from the book "Modern Expressions" by North Light Books, © 2010.

Photos by Christine Polomsky for FW Media. © 2010

Designs by Fernando Dasilva © 2010.

Mexico City Glamour

On our last trip to Mexico City, we were invited to a series of events organized by our fellow jewelry designer and friend Daniel Espinosa. In the agenda: the opening of a new store and the launching of his new collection.

The only event we missed was a runway show but I captured many moments of style outside of the catwalk what is even better to take a look of  what people is actually wearing it. 

The ensemble this lady is wearing might be my one of my favorites of the night. The combo of braided gold silk cord, white pearls and gold metal accents is fun.  She looks incredible! It's great to see cocktail ring, bold earrings and luscious lariat all playing in the field together. No minimalism at all! it works and I love it!

On this photo, the beauty of the model disputes the spotlight with the beauty of the jewelry. Peach sahdes on rose gold over sterling silver. Astonishing set of jewels.

A queen moment..gorgeous model and necklace by DE. In the first plane on the right bottom corner, a cocktail ring in sterling silver and rose quartz stones. Uma coqueluche! 

The designer himself with a business partner and a model cutting the ribbon.

Mexican TV actress Ingrid Coronado is a huge Daniel Espinosa fan and couldn't miss the launching of the new collection at the Four Seasons for nothing - and she dragged a crowd of paparazzi with her. The dress is very DVF and the bracelet belong to Daniel Espinosa "Infinity" collection - whimsical and sparkly. 

Two DE franchisers and this blogger. The ladies are fun and fierce.

The lady in the last picture was bejeweled from head to toe and I loved it. Although she's wearing many items, each one belongs to the same style and color palette and she definitely plays "more is more". She is the dream of any jewelry designer.
Very ultra chic and poderooooooza!


All photos by Fernando Dasilva © 2010.

Jewellery featured on this post was designed by Daniel Espinosa - all rights reserved - © 2010

Swarovski Ambassador Training

Many times writing for a blog obligates you to be current as much as possible...I like to be current and fresh when I can make that a spontaneous and gratifying act. My career is not well disciplined and I don't manage my time very well. I was in Brazil for a month, from end of August to almost end of September dealing with personal issues and little bit of work.

I got back one day and the next day I flew to Cranston-Rhode Island to be part of the Swarovski Ambassador Training. After I got back I had to dedicate all my time to finish new designs for a customer and, two weeks after that, I was in Mexico City working for a manufacturer. So time went by so fast that I did not manage to blog from the road and add all the news from Swarovski earlier on this space, and that's why I am doing it just now.

The CREATE YOUR STYLE with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS division was launching the Innovations  for Autumn/Winter 2011/12. It was a fabulous event! A group f designers got together for the first time to bond and to talk about trends, new ideas, projects and goals. The Swarovski team treated us like family and we all felt really good about our partnership with Swarovski through the CREATE YOUR STYLE division.

I personally feel honored by having one of the most luxurious brands in the world sponsoring my design projects and endorsing my creative vision.

As fars as the products, the new shapes of beads stones, pendants and more and more, and the new colors pleased a lot my personal aesthetic.

I am a huge fan of yellow and smoky shades, so the new "Crystal silver night" and "Sunflower" gave  me plenty of inspirations. 

Crystal silver night = Elizabeth Taylor,  Cate Blanchet 

Sunflower = Julia Roberts, Jenifer Lopez

For some reason I made a small board with names of world celebrities that those two new colors remind me of and I came up with those. It's not important if in real life those colors are not appealing to them, but it's exciting for my creative process that those colors takes me to that world of beauty, glamour and stardom that those ladies exudes when walking the red carpet. This is Swarovski on its roots.

Many of the new shapes are extremely cool but here are my favorites (among the sample I got it) : lol

The ethereal existence of a butterfly now translated into a incredible and deep stone...joining the family of pendants and beads. 

It can't getter more Irish than this one...an universal symbol of luck, we Latins love it! Can't wait for bigger sizes so the cuts can be really noticed.

Hexagon sew-on stone - another modern and somehow futuristic.  

Lucerna bead - soon it's going to be in the list of favorites of may designers. Amazing cut and substantial. Architecturally modern.

Sphinx eye stone. wow...sexy, misterious and intriguing...it's time to start setting stones.

The next pictures are few of the trend flags of the fabulous and magical world of  SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS Atumn/Winter 2011/2012.

acrylic, crystal meshes and crystal yarn

trims, crystal rock and crystal fabric, new additions to the "fusion concept" family

feathers and crystals

last two showcasing a froting, icy trend, a mixed of fur, fabrics, crystals and subdued shades

Pictures by Fernando Dasilva. 

Trend flags by CREATE YOUR STYLE with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS  © 2010.

Inspirational Fall

After almost 12 years living in American soil, I am still allured by the beauty of Fall colors and at same time perplexed that this season they are almost gone.

Digging my trunk , I've found two "vintage" pieces made years ago when I was taking chances on my first wire wrapping loops - they weren't so great but I was pleased with the color palette that  inspired me. The absence of red on both pieces made me wonder what I was thinking.

One piece was knotted using # 2 carded silk because the multi-colored tourmalines were sized from 2.5 to 3mm. Both designs feature nice colored gemstones that were probably mined in the beautiful and tropical Brazil (my Brasil).

Lots of citrine, peridot, smokey quartz, lemon quartz, lemon citrine and gold rutilated quartz. Metals are vermeil, gold plated and even brass plated...all mixed together.

above, an  early wire wrapped work - peridot, smoke quartz briolettes, Brazilian gold rutilated quartz triangle drops, lemon quartz soccer ball cut rondelles, peridot and tiger-eye beads.

second piece was knotted using Beadalon knotter tool and brown carded silk #2 - in the mix: citrine, lemon quartz and peridot briolettes, multi colored tourmaline beads and lemon quartz fancy bead.

laying both pieces together for a luscious and not so demure look.

All photos and designs by Fernando Dasilva  © 2010.