ABOUT
"There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand."
- Mary Shelley -
Venerate Jewelry is owned and operated in Chicago, Il. All pieces are made by hand.
Inspired by nature, anatomy and Victorian ideals of death and adornment, Venerate strives to create collections that celebrate and explore the macabre. Venerate uses jewelry as the medium by which the inner workings of our anatomy and the invisible world of nature can be explored.
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Venerate is owned and operated by Christie Joy, who began her exploration of jewelry at a young age, playing dress up with her mom's pearls and creating her own jewelry using polymer clay and found objects. These childish games of dress up and craft stuck with her and she soon realized her true passion lay in creating wearable art. From here, the Chicago native went on to study design full time and she received a BA in Jewelry Design from Central St. Martins in London.
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It was in London that Christie first learned about Victorian mourning jewelry; jewelry that was meant to honor deceased loved ones and signified the acceptance of death. The mourning jewelry of the Victorian Era resonated with Christie 's own personal view that objects can have a symbolic and intangible value that transcends time. Christie’s philosophy in jewelry comes from her attraction to the haunting quality of such reliquary, and a strong interest in combining natural materials like wood with traditional metal jewelry. This obsession lead to the creation of Venerate Jewelry.