Mimosa Anyone?
After seeing a very chic friend wearing a bronze alligator wrapped teeth to tail around her wrist, I had to ask! Who makes that bracelet?! Not only because my children are obsessed with alligators (who isn’t?) but because the piece was such a visual reminder of the landscape of Louisiana. Come to joyously find out, the alligator cuff is hand made in Louisiana by a brand called, Mimosa Handcrafted! The brand also has so many other beautifully designed pieces ( ie; the magnolia necklace or June bug ring) that speak to the coastal southern soul. Not to say that the jewelry is not cool or design forward enough to be worn in any state, but there is such a sense of pride of place in the pieces. I had a brief chance recently to chat with the founder, Madeline Ellis. And although her metals are not recycled, she is committed to quality, Louisiana hand made products (less shipping, less machinery etc), and is continually trying to improve the ethical and environmental impact of her brand. Hooray! We are here for all of it!
Epiphany: How/when did you get started?
After working as a landscape architect for years, I craved creating something new with my hands. From 2008-2013 I built the business through pop ups and festivals. By 2015, my husband joined and I was creating jewelry full time! Now we have a full team!
Epiphany: What is your process?
We use the ancient art of Lost Wax Casting. We cast in bronze, sterling silver and 14k gold. Every step of the process is done in-house in our South Louisiana studio. Each piece starts with a drawing that becomes 3 dimensional when I take it to wax.
Epiphany: I just love the Breathe cuff. What inspired you to create it?
When I first designed it, I realized I needed a wearable reminder to take a deep breath. I would get really focused at work and all of the sudden feel like I hadn't come up for air in a while. Having something on my wrist would be a great visual reminder to pause and take a deep breath from time to time. I had just been learning about The Square or Box breathing technique and realized incorporating it into the design would make it a more useful tool. As time has gone on and especially over this last year this has become the one piece of jewelry I don't take off. Instead of being just a reminder to take a deep breath it has become almost like a "place I can go" to focus on breathing and being in the present moment.
Epiphany: How did Goodsforgood come about?
Very organically. Way back around 2009 or so a good friend of mine was working directly with an orphanage in Cambodia. We created a piece together and a portion of the proceeds went to the orphanage. After realizing our work could be a catalyst for bringing help where it was needed we realized we had the opportunity to do more good if we made it a focused initiative within MIMOSA.
Epiphany: What's up next for Mimosa?
Lots of new work in the next few months. Pieces similar to the Breath cuff actually, very much designed for form and function to be usable tools for wherever you are.