Found on the ears (and faces) of everyone from Ezra Miller, Brooke Candy, Miley Cyrus and Tsunaina, Alan Crocetti is jewellery's newest maverick
Alan Crocetti’s work is everywhere at the moment, dripping off models on Helmut Lang’s AW19 catwalk, dangling off Ezra Miller’s ears in Playboy, snaked around Dua Lipa’s lobes in Vogue, and constantly marked SOLD OUT on Matches. Growing up around his parent’s knitwear factory in Brazil, fashion and design have been ingrained in Alan’s life. Keen to hone his craft, he moved to London to study at CSM, although he dropped out before graduation. But as one door closes, another opens and he went about setting up his very own eponymous jewellery line. Cue magazine covers, catwalk debuts, and celebrity fans.
We talk to Alan to find out more about his jewellery, his passion and life experiences that made him who he is today.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your background? How did your background shape your creative vision?
Alan Crocetti: My parents had a knitwear factory and I grew up in it, so fashion was basically present since birth. I moved from Brazil when they went bankrupt. I feel that this helped me fight harder for the things I wanted, whilst also keeping me grounded to basic things kids usually take for granted. The lack of resources and having close to nothing makes you extremely creative.
How did the move to London shape your creative vision?
Alan Crocetti: There’s so much diversity in London, and being able to experience and share information with people from different parts of the world is very enlightening. London was by far the best “school” I have ever been to.
Have you always enjoyed creating things?
Alan Crocetti: I’ve always been a dreamer above all, and I have so many ideas of even things I cannot dream of making. It’s a gift and a curse (hah). Focusing was hard growing up, because I wanted to do everything I felt like doing. I still want to be able to explore as much as I can with time.
Why and how did you start working with jewellery?
Alan Crocetti: It wasn’t planned, I started experimenting with jewellery in my final year of womenswear at CSM and fell in love with it. I ended up dropping out on the verge of graduating, the jewellery I made started being spotted and I was then asked to have them in editorials. Suddenly I had a business! It was interesting to see that my learning experience was under a lot of scrutiny through the microscope, cause I was being judged as I was figuring stuff out. I had a business before I was even aware of what I was doing, or getting myself into. It was, anyhow, an incredible experience.
What is it about designing jewellery that appeals to you?
Alan Crocetti: When I started it was more of a challenge, and how I struggled to find what I now do in the market. I got very obsessed with the intricacy of jewellery and its materials. I also realised jewellery tends to be an extension of one’s body, and that reason alone is very appealing to me. I like to think my pieces are not ephemeral and they aren’t going to be discarded or disregarded with the change of seasons. I aim to create what’s to be new classic pieces, something you will be able to pass on to generations.
What were your main influences?
Alan Crocetti: Surrealism, architecture and science fiction.
Where do you find your inspiration?
Alan Crocetti: I have attention deficit disorder so basically everywhere. Sometimes in the most common of places like the kitchen. In general, I don’t really look into other jewellers work, because I don’t want to feel influenced by what someone’s already done, and this way I don’t feel my work has been tainted. Anatomy is also a big starting point. I’m very into body shapes, forms and deformities.
What is your creative process?
Alan Crocetti: There’s not a formula, when I have an idea I usually try to see how it works best visually on the photoshop apps on my phone, it’s probably the tool I use the most in the early stages of a concept. When I’m commuting, bored or sleepless that’s my go to app, it’s very therapeutic to me.
How would you describe your overall aesthetic?
Alan Crocetti: The unbalance between minimal and maximal is very appealing to me, I find myself usually stuck in the middle. Not sure if it reflects in my work, but that’s where i usually find myself, and where I’m comfortable at! I would describe my work as elegant, bold and odd.
How can jewellery enhance people's beauty?
Alan Crocetti: Jewellery is very related to how it makes the wearer feel. More than those who are simply admiring them.
What does beauty mean to you? How does this influence the jewellery you design?
Alan Crocetti: There’s a lot of conflict in this word alone. Apart from the fact that beauty itself is very subjective, I also find beauty in the unconventional, maybe even in things defined as ugly. However, I also tend to find ugliness in what is conventionally defined as beautiful. I’m into the subjectivity of beauty. I feel like it’s important to pay attention to how things move you somehow, that’s beauty for me, and in this sense beauty has a lot of strength and empowerment, and that’s how it influences my work.