The Hydra Series is a new collection of sterling silver jewelry that captures the essence of anticipation and reflection. It continues the tradition of naming my work after ancient Greek gods and mythological figures.
February 15, 2024
How to Choose the Right Wedding Ring for You
Your wedding ring isn’t just a symbol of love and commitment, it's a piece of jewelry you’ll wear every day. It is essential to choose the one that suits your lifestyle.
Here are some thoughts to help you find a perfect wedding ring for your individual way of life.
May 16, 2022
THE JEWELER'S HAND
There are times I would step out of my space to tend the shrubs and perennials in my studio garden to reflect and find inspiration. Transitory moments like these have led me to enjoy a parallel between the role of a jeweler and that of a gardener—the ceaselessly moving hands. As a gardener digs and cultivates the soil, nurtures the vegetation, and harvests the seeds and fruits, a jeweler creates models, melts metal, forges, inlays gemstones, assembles, solders, and polishes finished works. Though, unlike the gardener who races with time to produce an optimal yield, I, the jeweler, have the allowance of time to contemplate and realize every single creation one by one.
 This modality of producing annually a small, highly individualized, and focused body of designs was already there in my vision at the very moment when I undertook the role of a metalsmith. As I chose to depend on a minimum of machinery and chemicals, I also chose to optimize the use of my hands, retaining and re-developing the conventional or historical methods of jewelry-making within my own practice. It is a kind of muscle memory or perhaps choreography that consists of numerous tools, which, over time, like the hoe and sickle to a gardener, become the very extension of me.
 Jewelry, as a personal object, is exclusive. This very idea characterizes my practice and philosophy of producing deliberately and manually so that each motif and design, new or renewed, carry meanings after each pounding, stamping, forging, and welding. Equally important is the intention behind each commission of bespoke jewelry by my clients; whether it celebrates the success of a career, matrimony, the birth of a child, or the death of a beloved one, the work becomes the index of a particular moment of one’s life. It’s humbling and meaningful to be able to encounter and intimately engage with different individuals, to infuse their narratives and personalities while creating a unique work that speaks only to them and them alone. These encounters also become the ultimate source of inspiration and support for my work and craft.
 The archive of my work exists largely in the form of finished pieces and models, though there are significant physical editions that I intentionally hide in various boxes, so that, when the time calls for a revisitation, I can rediscover and reconnect with them. The archive, the vault of my previous works, leaves traces of my thoughts for me to return to, develop, and find a continuum into the present time of my repertoire, just like the seeds in the deep woodland that would only germinate and prosper under the right conditions. The world today spins faster than ever, and changes occur unpredictably and at times chaotically, and I find it centering and anchoring to have this archive to return to, savor the past, and remind myself to be in the present and continue to grow as a thoughtful and conscious artisan. If new commissions set the direction of my jewelry practice, then the earlier works set the foundation, both of which continue to feed, rejuvenate, and sustain my practice and vision.
July 29, 2021
COLOR EVOLUTION
I have reached the point in my career where I have built the signature style and developed my own key design elements that define me as a designer and a brand. Like sand in a desert, my work has also shifted and transformed over time as I keep re-working and re-shaping mediums into something new and adapting the core components of my work to my clients’ lifestyles and my own moods. Because of the techniques that I employ, each piece has its own distinct characteristics. My practice evolves, seldom repeating.
The meticulously chosen materials I work with make a great influence on the final look of each piece and although I have worked with colored gemstones in the past, recently I have created a more significant gemstone work and entered another realm of this practice. See it for yourself.
December 2, 2017
LIA GANGITANO INTERVIEWS MICHEL AUDER IN NOVEMBER 2017 ISSUE OF INTERVIEW MAGAZINE
"GANGITANO: ...There’s a general misperception that your work tends to be observational or voyeuristic and that it comes directly out of your own life."
February 21, 2017
VENA AMORIS
Although the earliest finger rings are from Ancient Egypt, the history of engagement rings dates back to Ancient Rome. In many countries, engagement rings are worn on the fourth finger of the left hand. This custom also is believed to have originated in Ancient Rome. It was believed that this finger contained the vena amoris, the “love vein” that leads to the heart. (The latin term vena amoris was popularized hundreds of years later by the ecclesiastical lawyer Henry Swinburne in A treatise of Spousals, or Matrimonial Contracts in 1686, in which he references Roman thinkers Apion and Aulus Gallius.) Ancient Roman brides-to-be would receive two engagement rings, one in gold and one in iron. The gold ring was to wear in public, and the iron ring was for around the house.
November 5, 2015
JELENA BEHREND’S OBJECTS OF DESIRE | VOL. 2 | PART II | ANDREW NEEL
Tell us about yourself. What do you do for a living?
I’m a filmmaker living in Brooklyn. I grew up in Vermont. I moved to New York 17 years ago when I came here to go to college. I started a film making collective called SeeThink Films. We make documentaries and fiction films.
March 2, 2015
NEW ROSE GOLD WEDDING RING AND ENGAGEMENT RING DESIGNS - STEVEN AND NADIYA'S RINGS
When Steven came to meet with Jelena to discuss the engagement ring, he knew he liked hand carving, but was not sure of the pattern that Nadiya, his future fiancée, would like. After Jelena asked Steven to list several of Nadiya's favorite things/hobbies to learn more about her and her taste,without hesitation Steven said: "Red Tailed Hawk, she loves Red Tailed Hawk!" Immediately and without a doubt, this magestic bird's feather became the source inspiration for hand carving design of Nadiya's engagement ring.
The engagement ring design also features white gold four prong Jelena Behrend Studio setting. Wide white gold prongs are incorporated in the design to let the shine through to the round cut brilliant diamond and serve as a secure casing of the center stone.
The rose gold wedding band set was created to compliment the engagement ring and rose gold was used for the bands as well, in order to create a monochromatic look.
August 21, 2014
JBS Reliquarium: The First Piece of Jewelry I Ever Made
My "Good Luck " necklace is the first piece I made and is still my favorite.
When I wear it - on the street, grocery store , at the dentist, anywhere - everybody says - Good Luck back to me.
Think positive. Pretty word opens the iron door.
Good Luck,
Jelena
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August 14, 2014
#THROWBACKTHURSDAYS ON @JELENABEHRENDSTUDIO SOCIAL MEDIA
As you probably already know Jelena's work has been featured in many publications, magazines, newspapers, editorials. Recently we have started using popular #tbt hashtag to introduce our newer social media followers to the amazing world of Jelena Behrend Studio press pages. It takes the whole big crew of people to take an amazing editorial photograph, so it would be way too sad to let these works sit on the shelf and collect the dust. Here are the few we have recently pulled out from the massive archive and shared with our ever growing social media lovers:
April 30, 2014
ELIZABETH NEEL OPENING
ELIZABETH NEEL, a dear friend and a patron of Jelena Behrend Studio is having an opening today in London at Pilar Corrias Gallery.
Brutal and beautiful, attentive to the chaotic textured complexity of organic world, and to the artistic discipline required to recognize and trace its grace, her work is an inspiration to us. We are proud to own one of her pieces here at the studio.
Opening: Wednesday, April, 30, 6-8
1 May - 21 June, 2014
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