Featured Artisan: SamCas

Hello! Please welcome today's featured artisan, Samantha of SamCas Jewelry.

First off, tell us a little about yourself!

Hello! I'm Sam and I'm a Fashion Design graduate from FIDM in San Francisco. I also intern and take couture classes with couture designer Colleen Quen. At the moment, I am working on my brand called SamCas, starting out with its first jewelry collection entitled "Free Philosophy".

I love the mixing elements that normally wouldn't go together; I love the juxtaposition of it. I would describe my style to be classically glamorous with a little bit of androgyny and edge. I believe in creating timeless and versatile pieces without sacrificing style and comfort. 

How did you start creating your artwork, and how long have you been doing it?

 
Well, as I mentioned above, I went to school for Fashion Design, but the jewelry making came after that. After I graduated, I sort of went on this quest to find myself and to find out what I really want to do in life. So I began exploring different types of fashion and learning and experimenting. During this quest, I actually didn't even consider making jewelry. 

My fascination with jewelry was sort of an accident. A lot of my old jewelry pieces needed to be repaired, so I looked online (mostly youtube) for quick and easy guides on how to fix them, and one link lead to another, until I was already watching and following step-by-step instructions on how to create jewelry from scratch! Also, repairing my own jewelry gave me the time to really study them, and their structure and design. I noticed how similar yet different jewelry making is to making clothes, and it was seriously love at first sight!

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Sometimes it's the process, when I make mistakes or when I run into problems, that's when I come up with some of my (personal) favorite pieces. But of course like any other artist, I get my inspiration from almost anything, but majority of it comes from different cultures, especially my own. I grew up in the Philippines and I always try to incorporate my culture and roots into my art. I also get really inspired by the past, whether it's 3 years ago or 300 years ago, I think there's always a trend or an idea that we can bring back and either incorporate or improve to be contemporary.

Outside of crafting, what else do you enjoy doing? 

I'm a hard core rock climber actually! I love climbing, it's my first love! So is theater! I love to act, sing, and dance! I've been doing both since the 2nd grade, and to me, both are such huge stress relievers for me. It's actually funny because people get really surprised when they find out that I'm a climber since they usually perceive rock climbers to have super big, toned bodies, which is true, but I'm a "static climber", which means I climb "slowly" so that I can conserve energy, and static climbers usually use more of their legs than their arms.

Aside from those two, I enjoy different kinds of sports (usually extreme sports like snowboarding and wake boarding), and I'm also a photographer and graphic designer.  

Is there anything else you would like to share?
 

At the moment you can purchase my items at Etsy, but I'm working on my personal website right now, and to celebrate, I will be hosting a giveaway at my blog in September! So be sure to follow me on twitter or my blog so you can be updated about it!

LINKS:

Blog
Etsy
Twitter

Thanks for the lovely interview, Sam!

Posted in: featured Artisan,handmade jewelry,Jewelry,SamCas