Aureta joins L.A. fine jewelry brand as creative director

Aureta Thomollari, social media influencer and brand consultant known for her personal Peggy Guggenheim style and savvy Instagram feed, has been named creative director of Los Angeles-based jewelry brand Huckleberry.

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She will bring her outrageous side to the company founded in 2013 by Jason Hoehn, who collaborated with Nick Fouquet and whose eccentric seven-figure designs have been worn by Rihanna, Kate Winslet, Pharrell Williams and many others. .

Thomollari discovered Huckleberry five years ago at local L.A. jewelry store Roseark, where she fell in love with a cuff featuring a huge, diamond-encrusted wolf, which took nine months to hand-carve. hand in wax.

"I want it to be an experience when you wear it," Hoehn said of his work, which includes a partnership with multi-generational Beverly Hills jeweler Kazanjian, a gemstone specialist with a 5-grade red diamond. .5 carats, among other impressive stones.

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Huckleberry wolf cuff. Courtesy

"I love the drama," Thomollari said, dressed for Zoom in a red and black polka dot Moschino dress, black bra top and wrapped pearl necklace. "I try to take risks and not take fashion too seriously," she said of her approach to clothing when traveling the globe for art fairs, and between her two homes. rural areas in Pine Mountain Club, California, and Stowe, Vermont.

“Her work is living art. She is like that every day even if she doesn't see anyone.… For me, we are a small company and it was a big decision to bring someone in, but it was really a no-brainer. I trust her taste and her style. I'm a white t-shirt and jeans type and I wear a lot of jewelry, but she's just the opposite,” Hoehn said.

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He's been in the jewelry business since the early 2000s, when he launched a line called Nefarious that made weekly celebrity magazine covers for $30,000 diamond-encrusted aviator sunglasses worn by Kanye West, Victoria Beckham and others.

A native of Albania, Thomollari spent his teenage years in Florida and Washington, D.C., then moved to L.A. two decades ago to open the Daniel Espinosa jewelry studio. A longtime collector of vintage jewelry, fashion and contemporary art, she has made her Instagram a gallery for her fantastical, sometimes surreal compositions. "People respond to authenticity," she said of her 731,000 followers, which led her to check out brands like Alain Mikli and Valentino.

Hoehn approached her in 2017 to be the face of the brand's pearl collection in a lookbook photographed by Nadia Lee Cohen, before choosing her as his partner.

Thomollari's first role will be to creatively lead the holiday collection lookbook, including the design of unique engraved cocktail rings, and manage the brand's expansion into homewares.< /p>

“There are so many exciting things we want to do,” she said. "I have a voice, a platform, and relationships that I've built through collaborations. From how people have answered these questions, I understand there's a luxury customer out there waiting with can't wait for me to do this."