Brianna Fano is a jewelry designer known for her line of breathtaking braided rope and geometric lucite accents. Her necklaces for the Spring 2012 collection conjure an air of ancient Egypt, in cerulean and gold shades and bold sizes. Though, that wasn’t quite the idea behind the collection.
Fano had gone to a cafe bookstore for a cupcake but left with so much more; she’d found a book called Animalia which became the main source of inspiration for her collection.
“I must have looked through the book 50 times,” admits Fano.
She began observing the animal illustrations only to realize they were made by various geometric shapes pieced together. That sparked her interest, and admiration.
“I narrowed down my obsession to one thing: the simple shapes within a very complex composition. I wanted to bring out those foundation shapes and give them the credit they deserve. Coming from a family of people who like building things, the foundation of what things are composed of has always been quite inspiring to me. Without them, nothing really exists,” said Fano.
Fano began her journey at a young age, making jewelry with her mother. Later on, she decided to pursue a career in fashion but in clothing, not jewelry. During her senior year at Parsons, she began creating a jewelry collection for her senior thesis. Fate came to play when a Lucite fabricator wanted to know what Fano could do with Lucite as a main staple in her collection. Sounds like a Project Runway challenge, huh? Sooner than later, Fano became enamored by the use of Lucite in her collection.
“For a while I had been looking for a material that allowed to more formal flexibility while still maintaining a strong material presence. Through working with a local fabricator I started to experiment with Lucite and was really pleased with the results,” said Fano in an interview with knstrct.com.
Her past collections consisted of brass necklaces with antique designed keys and big coral and copper pearls. Compared to contemporary jewelry, Brianna Fano gives you a sense of antiquity and mystery, remade in a modern context.
So what will Fano come up with for Fall 2012?
“The feeling will be a bit less playful and a bit more chic and polished. I have always felt inspired by a touch of vintage and for the fall collection there is no doubt in my mind it will make its appearance!”