I Make Constellation Jewellery For People Who Adore Stars

My name is Veronica Vartic and I am a product designer who wandered into metalsmithing a decade ago and slowly became a jeweller.

I started this constellations collection about one year ago. My initial plan was to make, in time, only the 12 astrological constellations, as a way of pursuing my two passions, silversmithing and astrology. It was meant to be a slow project, something I would turn to whenever I’d feel blocked and uninspired. To make it easier for myself I started with the simpler configurations, like Libra, Cancer and Aries and offered them in my little shop.

Then, something interesting happened: my collection started to develop in an unpredicted way. People began coming to me asking me to make for them particular constellations that have a special meaning to them and sometimes sharing with me what that meaning was. All these stories made me realize how much we people from different corners of the world have in common: we all look with hope and wonder at the same stars and create our own stories around them, just as our ancestors did.

To make my constellation jewels as accurate as possible, I first do some research, as what are the most used configurations and what colours and magnitude are their stars. Once I decided on a configuration and a size, I star building the model using sterling silver wire and tube. I solder everything in place, finish it and then I tube-set the stones. I chose gemstones that roughly correspond to the real colours of the stars they stand for (blue, white, yellow, red). For the more complex constellations with too many soldering points, I have molds made and cast every new piece in solid sterling silver.

More info: Etsy